The Tree of Life

James slammed his boss’s office door shaking the frame like the tremor of an earthquake.

He strode to the exit by sheer instinct; his vision was of no use to him because all he could see was a haze of red.

Kirk Haywood had pushed his buttons one too many times. Today the button exploded. He had been avoiding a confrontation with his beady eyed co-worker for weeks.

James was good at his job as head electrical engineer of his company. He got along with his co-workers and insisted they worked together as a unit, which they happily did. No problems or hiccups, until Mr. Knowledge came to work there six weeks ago.

James and his team had been working on a new electrical system that he had designed. This was big and James took his work seriously.

Kirk was not a fan. Kirk wanted to be the star of the show.

In an effort to show his expertise, while the team was going over the electrical system, Kirk decided the design needed re-wiring.

Unfortunately, his excellent skills had caused one man to be rushed to the hospital, and he had damaged one section of the system…

It took three of the men to pull James from his newest project of re-wiring Kirk’s privileged face!

Two weeks suspension was the outcome of the meeting with his boss concerning the situation. He could have lost his job, but was too valuable to the company. His anger was understandable, but trying to re-arrange Kirks limbs didn’t sit too well with the company heads.

Too aware that his anger was at an all time high, instead of driving, James continued out the gated parking lot on foot.

“Bastard!” He swore as he ate up the concrete with determined strides.

He wanted to go home, but he was too angry. He would hate for his wife to see him like that. His sweet Ana didn’t deserve his foul mood. She was the calm in his storm.

He’d always had a temper, even when he was little. The school bully had even learned his lesson once James finished exercising the manual of, ‘how to leave people alone’ on him.

He was only sorry he had put that look of disappointment on his mother’s face.

“James, it is ok to get angry; but it takes a level head to express that anger effectively. Getting angry at anger only creates more destruction. It does nothing to make you feel better in the long run. Now you are just as negative as the person who started the problem.”

He loved his kind mom, but she was wrong.

Smashing his face did everything to make him feel better.

James smirked, heading towards a park. He instantly saw a walking trail among the trees, and it gave him a chance to be alone.

Ana had taught him how to walk off his anger when he felt overwhelmed. The peace of nature and the physical exertion helped him to release the anger, which was better than letting it explode - like he did today.

The trail was a graveled path and he liked the crunching sounds his work boots made on the surface. It was a warm, beautiful day, which he would have appreciated if he were in a better mood. The trail started to incline slightly turning into a hiking path.

The further up he walked, the sweeter the air became; it wafted past his nose like an intoxicating perfume. It almost smelled like the gentle scent of a beautiful woman, like his Ana. He didn’t know what it was, but it was captivating.

He stopped to look at his surroundings.

There, sitting on a cleared area of rich dark soil stood the most beautiful, luscious pear tree he had ever seen. It stood full, strong, and tall; its branches reached out like loving arms offering the juiciest, shiniest, pears as though they were meant for a king. The rich green leaves rustled in the breeze inviting him to come closer, which he did.

He was transfixed!

Who planted such a vision of beauty just off a hiking trail where it could barely be seen? This tree’s beauty was a sufficient rival only to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, and it must be just as tempting.

Before he knew it, his hand had reached out and plucked a juicy pear from its outstretched limb. He raised it to his hungry mouth and took a large satisfying bite.

The juice of the pear ran down his lips as he closed his eyes savoring the grainy sweet ecstasy that played over his tongue and slid down his throat. He moaned as though ambrosia from Heaven was just placed on his lips. He quickly took more bites, until the pear was completely consumed.

It was so good, he felt light headed. His vision blurred and his knees felt weak.

What kind of pear was that? He remembered thinking before his sight went pitch black and he felt like he was drifting on a fluffy cloud at warp speed into the darkness…

When James opened his eyes he was standing in a large field with grass as far as the eye could see. He closed his eyes and opened them again, thinking he must be hallucinating.

He was not hallucinating, he was there and the air seemed cleaner.

He looked around and saw a small farm house. The farm house was whitewashed and looked like something from the 1930’s. He suddenly heard the sound of a tractor. As it got closer, he saw that it looked like a cross between a wagon and the old fashioned cars that he had seen in many history books.

A young boy, about 12, was operating it. He wore overalls and worn leather work shoes that looked like they came off the pages of a Louis Bromfield novel.

Before James could wrap his mind around what he was seeing, the tractor puttered and groaned. The boy jumped off hitting the machinery and cursing a blue streak.

The language was worded so inventively that it shocked James, and he was no stranger to a few flaming phrases.

The boy’s temper seemed to rise quickly. The machine just wouldn’t move, so he started kicking the machine like it had killed his parents.

A middle aged woman walked out on the porch and yelled the boy’s name.

“Alex Miller! I’m going to wash your mouth out with soap! I can hear those cuss words from here! Calm yourself down! I told you about that temper!”

“Yes Ma!” The boy hollered back, but he still kicked and cursed the machine, just a little bit quieter.

James really looked at the boy and felt something familiar about him.

His eyes widened as he continued to watch him. The boy couldn’t see him, but he had seen his face many times in the family photo album.

It was his grandpa! Grandpa Alex!

Why was he seeing him? How did he get here?

Alex threw the tool he was holding into the weeds with a frustrated yell.

James realized he was looking at his own temper playing out through his grandfather as a young boy.

He also got angry and frustrated at the drop of a hat. He guessed it ran in the family from generation to generation.

Yelling his last cuss word, young Grandpa walked towards the house, his face still in an angry scowl.

Just as quickly as James came, he went. He felt his head spinning again as he zoomed through the darkness until he felt nauseous…

When he stopped and opened his eyes it was just in time to see his father planting his fist in another man’s face. The look on his father’s face let him know that he was livid! Kind of like how he felt earlier that day as he taught Kirk a lesson.

They were outside of a cocktail lounge on a small town street. All of the businesses where lined up in a neat little row with printed signs announcing what type of business it was. It looked like something from the 1950’s and his dad looked really young. He had to be about 23.

Before he could process what he was seeing, his dad took another swing at the guy. He heard a scream - it was his mom. She was also very young, around 20.

She was nervous and upset, begging for his dad to stop. It looked like the guy had tried to flirt with his mom and his dad didn’t like it.

“Richard, that’s enough!” A guy, who knew his dad, grabbed his father trying to get him to calm down.

James’ mom was very upset and he wanted to go over and comfort her, but she couldn’t see him.

“You take it too far Richard! Your temper is out of control and I’m sick of it!” She turned and ran down the sidewalk and out of sight.

His dad was being led away by his friend as he called out to his wife’s fleeing form.

James walked over to see if the guy was ok. He looked about as good as Kirk did that morning, so not good.

“I guess I messed up again. He deserved it, but I did take it too far.” His dad said more to himself than anyone else as he started to calm down.

James looked at his dad they way he’d looked at his grandpa before. He knew how they felt and he knew there needed to be a change…

His vision blurred again.

Oh no, not again! James said in his head as he sped into the darkness.

This time when he woke up he was on the ground next to the pear tree. He was sweaty and had a mother of a headache - but overall, he felt ok. He wasn’t as angry as he was before. In fact, he wasn’t angry at all, just ashamed.

Kirk deserved to know what he had done was idiotic and dangerous, for himself and the other employees. Yet, James realized he could have expressed his anger in a more professional and effective way than roughing him up.

He looked at the pear tree calmly swaying and glistening in the sun.

Had the fruit of the tree taken him back to see his generations, to see his family’s past?

He had often given advice to others who were quick to say; “The past is the past.” He knew you had to face it and analyze any bad behaviors that needed to be healed before you could move on.

If you didn’t take the time to learn what you needed to from your past mistakes, and just swept them under the rug, then how can you grow into the future?

His family’s way of dealing with anger just got pushed back as something in the past, but it carried forward into the future. His grandpa, his dad, him - all needed to see themselves and how they distressed those who loved them.

The look in his grandma’s and mom’s eyes, he never wanted to see in his Ana’s eyes.

“When Ana and I have children, I don’t want my sons battling with the same thing three generations before them did, because my family never acknowledged or changed anything. I could change. I would change; starting today. It would be a process, but one that is worth the effort.” He pledged to himself.

He looked at the tree. Somehow, this tree and its fruit helped him to see the problem so he could begin to find the solution.

“Thank you.” James whispered to the tree as he headed back down the trail.

He had some work to do…

The freshly scented air swirled in the atmosphere, calming and free as James walked back to his truck. One pear detached and hit the ground as the beautiful lush tree shimmered and faded into the soft wind…..