The bark caught my eye while I was hiking in Acadia National Park last week.  I had stopped to enjoy a view of a mountain peak poking up above the tree line on the other side of the pond I was hiking around at that moment.  A distance view had stopped me, but this close-up view became my focus for a few minutes. 

The way the lines moved up and down, weaving, back and forth.  Each line appears to be similar to the next, yet different at the same time.  

Sort of like people, generally speaking, a head, two arms, and two legs.  Some hair on the head, maybe the face, or somewhere else.  In the details are the differences, the bumps, scars, deformative body parts, and, most different, the thoughts moving around in our gray matter, so many different thoughts.  

And maybe, as we have taken the time to look at the differences in this tree, we should examine and attempt to understand the differences between us all.  We don’t have to agree with all the different thoughts, but if we took the time to understand why someone else thinks the way they do and how their life experiences affected their views, would that understanding be enough to make the world a better place? What would we learn about those with different views from us? What would we learn about ourselves?  How would we feel about what we had learned about ourselves?  

Aim to be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday- 

Author Unknown