I read and responded to a post about palm trees yesterday, and it prompted me to blog a little something about these super trees on my own blog. It’s the state tree of this great Palmetto State, South Carolina. Then there’s the fact that there are so many types of them…sago palms, fan palms, windmill palms, needle palms, date palms, and so forth. Although I think of them as being tropical trees, I’ve learned that many of them are surprisingly hardy.
But I digress. The main thing I wanted to write about is how tough these lovely trees are, at least the ones I’m acquainted with. Having lived on SC’s coast for nearly three decades, I’ve seen my fair share of hurricanes. For several years we lived on the first fairway of a golf course, and on more than one occasion we saw tall pines simply snap and break when hurricane force winds gusted through. I, like you, have seen dozens of images of wind and rain wreaking horrific damage and devastation in coastal areas. Remember Hurricane Katrina in which houses, churches, buildings, and so forth were utterly destroyed?
But what about the palms? I’m not saying that they can withstand any and everything. I am saying that the ones I’m familiar with sway and bend and “go with it.” Regardless of the severity of the weather, they usually don’t break and are not uprooted. One year we had quite a heavy snow in Myrtle Beach, and when I looked out of the kitchen window, I saw one of my pretty palms covered in snow. Did it survive? You bet! In fact, it seemed to grow larger after that blanketing of snow.
I’m thinking we could take lessons from these trees. If we could bend and not break, sway with our problems, and ride out the storms, we’d be more able to survive whatever life throws our way.
mom's musings 