WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-If Trees Could Talk

If Trees Could Talk

August 13, 2009

Trees give us so much. They provide us shade on a hot day. They give us sap for maple syrup. And they bring tourists here in the fall..that helps our state budget. But what if trees could talk? That questioned was asked of students in a writing contest..we talked with the kids.

One day I was walking in a forest. Then I found a tree. It seemed like a perfect tree for a tree house. Then....the tree started to talk! "hi" it said. "hi" I said back. "can you do something for me?" it asked. I said "yes, what is it? "use both sides of the paper.?? Said the tree. "okay" I said," said William Douglas of Groton.

The world would be a different place if trees could talk. The would would not be as we know it. It would be profoundly, utterly incomprehensibly different," remarked Orion Kafka of Enosburg.

Shelli Wagner of Granville says, "If you take a tree please replace it with another one..."

"I think if trees could talk they would not say anything at all. I know a tree that has dug its roots into the ground to keep it steady when it rains. It leaves leaves on the ground for us to flatten into blankets for its toes. Its arms are stronger than mine, reach up cold in the winter, sticky with tree blood in the summer," said Sossina Gutama of Essex.

"You ask me to speak. But I know the question is: will you say what I want to hear? I, the old oak, saw, heard, felt, smelled, and sensed as ages of humans spoke these woods, hoping for the response, they needed, wanted to hear," said Kayla Glazer.

Conner North of Stowe said:  "Come visit me more and take care of me. I may give you some shade. I will give you some maple syrup and make the mountains green. We are good friends. We both make each other healthy. Please take care of me forever in my Vermont."

If trees could talk? Just a few of the winners. For a full listing, please click on the InfoCenter.

Anson Tebbetts -  WCAX News