Let’s
talk about trees.
Take family trees. Usually
when people think of a family tree, they think of an image of a strong and
mighty oak, with lots of roots and branches that spread out wide. That
makes sense, most families are traditional families, consisting of couples that
get together and make babies, and those babies couple up with someone else and
make more babies. It’s a grand image of generations of bloodline that
shows where a person comes from.
But of course trees are as diverse as families, so let’s stretch
this a little farther. It’s December,
Christmas is just around the corner, and Christmas trees are lit up in shopping
havens world-wide. These aren’t the
grand oaks, they have no roots to keep them planted. They aren’t even in their natural habitat or
planted in soil to make them grow. Yet
they’re cherished, revered, decorated and embellished. Entire decorating magazines are devoted to ‘doing
up’ your Christmas tree, and there seem to be no limits to materials or
creativity.
The “traditional Christmas tree” is obviously a tradition to be
broken. But are these new, modern trees
any less stunning? Ok, so maybe they don’t
bring the warm, fuzzy feeling of the nostalgic past, but to me they still
inspire a sense of awe. And not just
because I’m a sucker for anything with sparkly lights. The innovation and imagination are admirable,
making a thing of beauty of something unexpected. Most of us have a boxed up and packaged
definition of what a Christmas tree should be: pine, green, lights, tinsel,
garland, ornaments, you know, the whole festive sha-bang. But then there are those who break out of
those pre-defined expectations and create something just as spectacular, and
even more so because it’s unconventional.
The point is, people can create their trees to be whatever they want
them to be, and no doubt, it’s still a Christmas tree.
Last
week for Reed’s birthday, I took a day to myself to celebrate, and wandered
around that night at Singapore’s new Gardens By The Bay. It’s the new botanical gardens, and though I
didn’t get to explore much of the grounds, I did see the main attraction, the
Supertrees. Here’s a little tidbit from
Wikipedia about them: 
Supertrees
are tree-like structures that dominate the Gardens' landscape with heights that
range between 25 metres (82 ft) and 50 metres (160 ft). They are
vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting,
shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens.
The
Supertrees are home to enclaves of unique and exotic ferns, vines, orchids and
also a vast collection of bromeliads such as Tillandsia, amongst other plants.
They are fitted with environmental technologies that mimic the ecological
function of trees – photovoltaic cells that harness solar energy which can be used for
some of the functions of the Supertrees, such as lighting, just like how trees
photosynthesize; and collection of rainwater for use in irrigation and fountain
displays, exactly like how trees absorb rainwater for growth. The Supertrees
also serve air intake and exhaust functions as part of the conservatories'
cooling systems.
In short, these ‘trees’ are uh-mazing. They have totally transformed the iconic skyline
of the Singapore bay. They draw you in;
seen from a distance, they make you want to find out more. If I told you to close your eyes and think of
a tree, you would most likely not imagine anything close to these Supertrees,
but even the most non-imaginative of spectators will no doubt recognize that
they are indeed some kind of trees.
Do you kind of get an idea of where I’m going with
all this?
Since it was Reed’s birthday, as I was walking
around these amazing man-made structures, I was thinking of all these things
and about what Reed’s family tree looks like.
True, we all have a bloodline that makes up who we are. But not all trees are ‘natural’, not all
trees are those traditional, comforting images of something you would expect. But life in general is truly what you make of
it, which means that we can choose our own building materials and construct
something that’s non-conventional, yet still beautiful. We all choose how
we decorate our trees, what we consist of. We can ornament our lives with
light and color and make it something beautiful. I think I've been able
to do that with my own life, and having Reed and the decision to build his
family tree the way we have is something that I hope will bring amazement, light
and beauty to all of our landscapes. Reed is my Supertree. He is
the element of my life that people see from afar and think, "What is that?
I've never seen anything like it before, but it's cool." Of
course he is a natural being, but his family has been carefully constructed by
our hands. His family tree is a conglomeration of wood and bark and steel
and leaves and nuts and bolts and roots and lights.
And he is stunning.
