Family Friends and Fools and the Tree of Life

As one trundles in the journey called LIFE, the first contact we have is with our Family.

 

 

Our Parents, sibling, aunts, uncles they all form a protective ring around us a kids and we pick up many of our traits from the family in which we are born. Subsequently when one is an adult there comes an extended family when one gets married and later when one's siblings get married.  Family is something we inherit and have no opportunity to choose, though the extended family we may have some say. Our family is the most important and is like an anchor in our life, something we may turn away from but one cannot shake out of one's life. In many continent like Asia, Europe, Latin America family ties are paramount and treasured. Family is the like the roots of the tree, no wonder Alex Haley a few decades ago named his book Roots. 

Friends are people whom we choose because we have something in common, friends come into our life at various points of time, at school, at college, at work, at social venues and most importantly at the sports field.  Good friends are like sterling dependable and there when you need them. Friendship grows and matures as you grow older, also some friends drift out of one's life to be replace by another set of friends. But some friends you carry through life, they are like the trunk of the tree. they provide the purpose and stability to your life and standing in society. 

Fools we encounter every other day, they are like the leaves of the tree, you need fools in your life to bench mark yourself. If you cultivate fools then you too will become one is an old saying, but being surrounded by fools may not hurt you in your life as long as you know that they are fools. They whither away like the leaves of the tree, but we need fools in our life to remind us that we too can be stupid and dumb many a time. They are our conscience keepers in a convoluted way.

We need family, friends and fools for our growth in life just like a tree needs sunshine, water and air; like a tree we too must provide shade and comfort to the  three people whom we  inherit in our life's journey.