“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

Attributed to Warren Buffet, and sometimes Les Brown

I’ve always admired this gentle giant, towering over the plaza on UCT’s upper campus. I envy the magnificent view he has. I wonder whether he was planted during the inception of this campus – back in 1929. I imagine the generations he’s seen pass by over the decades, and all he’s witnessed in his time. I think of how different life was in those early years – on the doorstep of World War II.

And the changes in our nation since then: the volatility of the later Apartheid years, the hope and celebration of our early democratic years, and then the corruption and breakdown of the last decade (or more).

The intensity of the student protest years, followed by the sparsity of the pandemic, where he surveyed a ghost town below.

And then, almost two years ago, the terror of the raging inferno which swept through the campus, presumably leaving him with this two-faced appearance.

He’s seen a lot. And will likely witness much more.

People will come and go. Society will change. Technology will become ever more invasive.

But this tree – like the mountain behind him, and all of nature – will stand strong, through it all.

It’s a reminder of humility: we are mere specks on the spectrum of greater existence. Whatever we are going through, and whatever we do, will pass, just like us.

So, we should never allow ourselves to be deluded about our own importance and the magnitude of our contributions.

But we still need to make those contributions.

So, plant your trees now. Simply do good where you can, while you can. Start from pure intentions, and renew and protect those intentions often.

And do your best – with the greatest of ambitions – but temper your expectations, because the outcomes are never in your control.

Maybe you’ll see results. Maybe you won’t.

Your efforts are what matter…