A 4G smart phone can put a person in contact with loved ones half a world away. Also, it entertains its owner with game apps and can put a person in touch with a myriad of information from the Internet. But this device cannot beat a giant Redwood.
Recently my wife and I had the opportunity to spend a few days among these beautiful trees. A picture of one or even a picture of a group of them cannot do these magnificent trees any justice. A person needs to experience them.
When touching the bark, we had the feeling that they are a tough-skinned tribe. As we gazed upward, we swore that they touched the sky, and had to have tap roots just as long, embedded deep within the Earth. Several folks joined together and tried to give one of these Big Reds a group hug; they failed for lack of human arm span. Then we discovered something truly amazing.
Many of these trees are at least a thousand years old. That means that they were here before Columbus. They already had healthy growth and years before Leif Ericsson and crew scampered ashore in North America over a thousand years ago. We wondered, if these giants could talk, what would they tell mankind? But would we listen or even care? After all, it's only a thousand year old plus Giant Redwood, not a 4G smart phone, bound to be obsolete in a few months.
Copyright @2014 Terry Unger
