What You Don’t See

I’ve been thinking about how much of life is hidden from view.
A finish line hides the race.
A forest hides the years of care that made it possible.

The second photo is already two years old. I haven’t been back since.
But the forest grows.

Ten years ago, it was an exhausted eucalyptus plantation.
Dry soil. No water. The first photo shows the first 1,000 seedlings, 9 years ago.
6 or 7 thousand more were planted in the following years.

I built a dam that holds three million liters when full.
Cleared the monoculture.
Chose a mix of species.
Planted and fertilized.
Mowed and weeded for years so the young trees could survive.

From the outside, it looks like it grew by itself.
But it didn’t.

The truth is design, care, patience.
And then forgetting.

We dream of shortcuts.
Seed balls from helicopters. Instant forests.
But growth doesn’t work that way.

What you see is the forest.
What you don’t see is why it exists.