Acorns split at the tip and sprout

Acorns,
split at the tip, sprout,
and eventually become trees.

Such an obvious fact,
I didn't know until recently.

Because of my work,
I wanted to feel closer to the forest,
so I purchased a product called "Modoriki" (Returning Tree).

It is a service where an acorn is sent to you,
you raise it for about two years,
and then return the sapling to the forest (reforestation).

To be honest,
I had absolutely no real sense that an acorn would become a tree.

An acorn is an acorn.
A tree is a tree.
In my mind, they were completely separate.

But,
when I saw the tip split,
and a tiny sprout peek out,
I thought, "Ah, it really does start from here."

How much time,
will it take for this acorn,
to become a large tree?

During my own lifetime,
how big will it grow?
Or perhaps,
will someone from another generation see it in its full form?

While imagining such things,
I water it and watch over it.

In my work,
I tend to seek short-term results,
and outcomes that are immediately visible.

But,
acorns are different.

It takes time for the tip to split,
and even after it sprouts, nothing changes immediately.

Even so,
it is definitely, little by little, moving forward.

An acorn becomes a large tree.
While imagining the length of that time,
for now, I am just enjoying raising it.

Just by doing that,
I feel like the distance between me and the forest has shrunk a little.

#acorn
#forest
#sustainability
#raising
#senseoftime