This is an image of a tree in the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. As Debbie and I drove through this area in August, we saw large portions that had been burned in a devastating fire back in 2003.

Beneath the canopy of blue sky and surrounded by new life, this hunched and crooked tree reminds me of a tribal elder sharing stories to the next generation. It instructs with hushed whispers and silent scars, passing on the wisdom it has acquired through surviving life’s struggles. And it knows that the young will only truly understand when they too have encountered life’s conflagrations.

Photo taken with a Nikon D40x in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, CA. Post in Capture NX2.