There are two large old oak trees that live in a park near to me. This is their story.

The groundsman from the park authorities was given the task of planting another park designed by an experienced landscaper. He had been a landscaper for years and was very good at this work and got great pleasure from seeing his parks grow over the years. He always loved planting oak trees because of how big they grew and their broad canopy. Today would be no different: the plan called for the planting of oak trees in the park he was to plant.

He dutifully instructed his team to prepare the soil in the area where the trees were to be planted. They tilled the soil and watered the area well. They dug a big hole and poured in some fertiliser and compost to make sure that the trees’ roots took. They placed the first little sapling in its hole and closed it up.

Now it was time for the second oak to be planted. The groundsman paced out a sufficient distance and instructed his team to dig another hole. This hole was prepared the same way as the other and the second oak sapling was tenderly placed into it.

After many years of growth, the two oak trees stood very proud and independent in the park. Many birds roosted in them and people sat in the coolness of their shady canopies.

Eventually, despite the groundsman’s attempts to space the trees far enough apart, the two trees grew together, their branches intertwining. This did not bother the trees, which simply adjusted their growth to accommodate the other, while they both continued to grow.

Every now and then there would be a storm with strong winds that would cause the trees’ branches to part and then come back together again. Neither tree had a problem with this and neither resisted the movement brought on by the wind. The trees parted and moved together again, parted and moved together. Every time there was wind this parting and moving together would happen and the trees would continue to grow and host their own brooding pairs of birds and insects. Each would continue to draw their own water and nutrients from the soil and absorb their own carbon dioxide and produce their own oxygen. Each tree would photosynthesise their own sunlight.

One particularly stormy evening the wind blew so hard that the intertwining branches started hitting against each other really hard, yet the trees did not try to stop this. The wind continued to blow and the branches continued to hit against each other until, eventually, the main branch of the one could take it no longer and broke and crashed to the ground.

In the morning, people gathered to inspect the storm damage and pitied the tree as it stood there with its one branch severed and lying on the ground. It looked sad and pitiful in the morning sunlight. The park authorities came by during the day and removed the broken branch and cleared all the other debris from the park and a week later no one could even tell there had been a storm. The two trees stood proudly next to each other, basking in the sunlight and continuing to grow. Yet there was a distinct difference from before the storm. The two trees still looked the same healthy, proud oak trees but there was something different. Only regular visitors to the park recognised the difference: the trees were no longer intertwined. There was a gap between them wide enough for a pigeon to fly through. The sun shone between them and the rain fell gently through the gap. Other than that there was nothing different about the trees and they continue to grow as they always have, until one day they will grow no more. And, quite possibly, if they choose to, their branches will once again intertwine and they will experience one another once again. And they will be fine either way for they know that they are there in the park to produce acorns so that other oak trees can grow and for animals to live in them and for people to sit in their shade. This they are certain of and so it is not important whether their branches intertwine or not. It doesn’t matter if their roots venture into the same soil. They continue to grow regardless.

We can learn from these oak trees. They know what they want to do and understand that this all that is important. Therefore they can intertwine with each other quite comfortably, they can be blown by the wind and their branches can part and move back together effortlessly, and they can be parted forever and this does not change that they are an oak tree in a park producing acorns and shade.