​​
​​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​by MUHAMMAD El-SHERBINY
​
Every fall, all the trees of all the forests begin to insult animals.
In a repetitive manner, the trees say, “You squirrels are ugly rodents who are more akin to rats.” The squirrels hear this and are maddened by this tree speech. However, they plan to get back at the trees in some way.
Again the trees say repetitively, this time to a different animal “You bears are incredibly greedy and fat, you must starve yourselves in order to become fit again.”. The bears feeling shame take personal offense to this, however, they frustratingly agree with the trees.
This volley of insults toward the animals of the forest continues. The trees don’t discriminate and target every single creature, big and small, worm or moose. They call the birds homeless vagabonds with weird habits and the deer sly thieves for not giving the trees anything for the shade they give them. These insults continue repetitively, every minute of every day till the end of fall, with every tree contributing to the insulation of the animals.
Now you may ask, “Why were the trees so mean, who were they to insult everyone?”
The fact of the matter was that the trees were omnipotent, they had resided in the forest the longest, were the largest, and had no predators. Not a wiser organism could be found in the forest, so the trees had made a collective contract with each other, not for their best interest, but for the benefit of the forest and its inhabitants as a whole. They were playing a wicked game where they moved all the pieces, for all of the animals which had been insulted had served their role that fall, and consequently served their purpose in the winter, spring and summer as well. The squirrels that had been harshly insulted by the trees got back at them by mutilating the trees, ripping off their acorns, and eating them for their own growth. In fact, the squirrels were so insulted they buried many of the acorns that had been taken for the next few years. Little did they know that is exactly what the trees wanted as that is how the tree's future progeny will be born, ensuring the trees remain populated in the forest. The same for the bears, the tree's insults made them want to lose weight, and during the subsequent winter, they hibernated in a fruitless attempt to lose weight. Although they remained fat, the rest of the inhabitants of the forest were grateful for catching a break from being preyed on by the bears. Every animal benefited from the insults, the birds established their homes in the trees as a way to get back at them and the deers listened to the trees and ate the plants surrounding them as a way to thank them for their shade. The entire world operated in this manner in that trees insulted species upon species of animal allowing for the continuation of that specific biome. However, roughly 200,000 years ago a new type of monkey called homo sapien did not respond to these insults. These ignorant primates moved out of the tree-ed areas due to the insults. Eventually, they went back after creating elaborate machines to massacre the trees and the subsequent species of the biomes. If only they had listened to the tree's insults then, would they have been able to serve their role in their respective biome - helping all the creatures of that biome. Instead, the human's imperturbable nature made them lack the understanding of the suffering that they were to cause and the subsequent demise of their own species.
