
A story is told of the Chinese bamboo tree which when planted, has to be watered every day. It is daily watered for five years with no signs of growth at all and then in the 5th year in a matter of a few weeks, it grows to 90 feet.
The wisdom of the bamboo tree is in taking time to develop roots downward to the height to which it desires to grow. The deeper the depth the roots, the higher the height.
The deeper the depth, the longer the life span. When the roots of a tree are very deep in the earth, it is able to go through different seasons without been affected. It is able to go through seasons of drought unfazed because its roots can access water and nutrients at the lowest or deepest level. It can also survive times of flood because its roots deep beneath the earth’s surface can’t be easily subjected to weathering or erosion. During storms, tornadoes etc. it can’t be easily uprooted or broken by the wind, for it has the resilience to bend to whatever level without breaking.
The strength and lifespan of the Chinese bamboo tree is in the depth of its roots, but its WISDOM is in growing in obscurity, focusing on its root first, focusing on growing what’s not visible but durable. No one knows it’s there, nobody cares about it, so it doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone, and it doesn’t have to defend itself from any form of mental, social or even physical abuse. It doesn’t have to suffer attacks from competitors and dream killers. It doesn’t have to please anyone or compromise on its lofty dreams for the average and mediocre mind. It is ignored, overlooked, and never reckoned with so it is safe from the pressure of belonging and the manipulation of conformity.
It is daily invested in, until it reaches a point where it doesn’t need further investments. Oblivious to the fact that it was growing on a daily basis, the farmer perhaps would have felt this was more than enough to give to a plant that appeared not to yield results. He may have thought that at least it should have been as tall as such and such tree, or taller than such as such tree. He may have been frustrated and stopped watering the bamboo plant therefore preventing it from receiving all that it required to reach its actual potential. However, if watered ungrudgingly, by the time it starts to grow, it would be too late to be stopped, to be competed with, for the ideas and events that prevent others from reaching their potentials would have no effect on it. Its lifespan and livelihood does not depends on anything external. Not on anyone’s validation, commendation or criticism. It towers higher than critics, exists above and beyond nay-sayers, even when they talk it can’t hear them.