The Christmas is coming…
This is the best time to go deep in our hearts thinking what we have done and what we should do. I’d like to talk to you about the really important things in our life.
Bulgarian say: During his life everybod
y must:
- create a home
- bring up at least one child
- plant at least one tree
It’s easy to understand that creating a home and bringing up a child is one of the most important things. But why planting tree!? Why Bulgarians attach so much importance to planting tree. Why do we put it on par with having home and children? And this has been the case for centuries.
There is no short answer. Everyone is free to feel and find out the answer for himself. But I will share with you my personal thoughts and feelings.
Trees give us the oxygen we breath, the water we drink, the house where we live, the furniture we use, the heat in winter …
Trees protect us from floods and erosion. They are home of many living beings on the planet. Trees give us recreational areas and beautiful landscape. They are part of our cultural and natural heritage. What is common between the home, children and trees? In my opinion, all of them mean: LOVE and LIVE.
LOVE – because we love most our home, children and nature and they make us most happy.
LIVE – because the human beings cannot exist without home, children and trees. Trees can survive very well without people, but the people cannot survive without trees.
Saving nature means also RESPONSIBILITY, SUSTAINABILITY and SURVIVAL.
- RESPONSIBILITY to ourselves, to our nation but also to all people in the world.
- SUSTAINABILITY – because the oxygen or water made by trees are not mine or yours, they do not respect countries boarders, they don’t care about political systems, they are of all people.
- SURVIVAL – because saving the nature is a matter of human survival. Nowadays, this is an existential issue for the human civilization. The trees are may be the only possible realistic way to control the global warming. Only planting millions of trees could compensates for the harms of the human wrong way of living. Only trees can save us from ourselves. The trees give hope to humans to survive on the Earth.
The Christmas is the best time to go deep in our hearts, thinking what we have done and what we should do. Looking at the Christmas tree, we feel the warmth and comfort of our home, the love of our relatives, but also the hope for our future.
Enjoy the Christmas tree, but enjoy a live Christmas tree. After the holidays plant this tree and take care about it. And you will have already completed one of the tree most important missions in your life. I have already completed these three most important missions and I can honestly say they make me really happy. I understand and appreciate how right are the ancient Bulgarians and what a faithful covenant they left us.
But it is not enough. If I plant hundreds of trees, it will not be enough. If we plant thousands of trees, it will not be enough. Even the whole planet is covered by trees, it will not be enough.
The people must change their general understanding and approach to nature. We need a new “green” culture, new eco-friendly lifestyle based on living in harmony with the nature. Only then, the trees will be able to save us.
Planting one tree, we plant a culture. Planting one tree, we plant a lifestyle. Planting one tree, we plant a sustainability. Planting one tree, we plant a hope. This is my answer.
Let’s plant a Hope!
Merry Christmas, my FOREST friends!
The project is co-funded by EU through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria–Serbia Programme.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria-Serbia Programme, CCI No 2014TC16I5CB007. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of YMDRAB and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the Managing Authority of the Programme.
by Yonko Dodev – FOREST project manager
