Ten years ago my sister gifted me with a mango seedling that has blossomed into a statuesque tree rising over the roof of my bungalow house. In years passed it bore fruit but one day my husband unceremoniously cut it up in the middle of the season when it was just about to bloom and so for many many years it rebelled and refused to bloom. Slowly, year in and year out, my helpers and I coached it back to bear fruit. Each time I go out the gate I would lovingly caress the leaves and talk to the mango tree. My helpers would painstakingly burn dried leaves under it to smoke out the insects and revive the dead parts of the tree and bit by bit (it took a few years actually) it again begun to bear fruit. I could see it heavy laden again with flowers that has sprung into small fruits and slowly growing bigger and bigger each day to eventually ripen to full maturity. It made me very happy!
Then I had to contend with street children coming into our street and picking the fruits while still very young and it takes a lot of vigilance to keep the children away. They would come with sticks and stones to pry the small fruits from the branches and we have to keep a very close watch and shoo them away each time. It takes so much effort.
I could understand the children that they lack the education to understand the importance of allowing the fruits of a tree to blossom to its full ripening stage before harvesting them but what has really shocked me and made me very angry when I woke up this morning was to discover that my next door neighbor”s adult boarders plucked the not yet fully ripen mangoes in the dead of night and used these as “pulutan” for their drinking session up to the wee hours of the morning. I felt totally devastated and violated. I felt even worse than when robbers broke into my house and carted away my handbag that contained important documents and some cash. But to have my mango tree raided and pillaged is another thing.
It was all I could to stop myself from barging into my neighbors house brandishing a weapon and threatening them while spewing out all sorts of invectives. But my training as a soul counselor prevailed and with patience and emotions in check I knocked on my neighbor’s gate and out came the lady of the house and I explained to her the importance of her boarders not to ever again pluck the yet unripe mangoes because it would stunt the flowering of the mango tree and worse will make the mango tree not bear fruit again for many years. I explained this in a even toned voice but with deep conviction and she looked at me with wonder and said “Ah is that so?” With total bewilderment that I would care so much for a mango tree and that the mango tree would in fact rebel if it gets to be violated again the way it did. It was indeed a mega major challenge to connect to the soul of a human being who blocks the connection with alcohol and ignorance. But I felt good about communicating in a way that would touch her beyond the surface. That, hopefully, I succeeded in educating her on the importance of the Tree – that provides oxygen to cleanse the air we breathe and fruits for us to eat and shades us from the scorching heat of the sun.
I will know if I succeeded only if there will still be enough mango fruits that will ripen to their full maturity. Indeed it takes a lot of time, effort, and energy to communicate and educate but for those of us who have experienced enlightenment it is our solemn duty to radiate a higher level of consciousness to help others overcome ignorance and to experience beauty and appreciate the value in GOD’s creation – even one as simple as a mango tree in one’s front yard.
