The Tao of Walloo
By Asha Hawkesworth
Not long after I moved to Oregon, I was driving to the coast along Highway 26, and I noticed a sign that said something like, “The Largest Tree in Oregon.” Curious, I turned off toward the tree. I didn’t have to drive far to see an enormous sitka spruce, surrounded by a little fence, with a sign designating it an Oregon Heritage Tree. It was 206 feet tall, 56 feet in circumference, and 750 years old—meaning that it had sprouted a few years after the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. I marveled at this beautiful giant and wondered at what it must have seen in its life. And with that thought, Walloo was born. A tree so large and so old must have been a witness to so much, I thought. And what an advantage to live such a long time, and to gain so much wisdom. When I sat down to write Walloo’s story, I imagined it enjoying the pleasures of spring and birds nesting in its branches. I imagined that it endured the pains of fire, death, and destruction. And I imagined that it always asked, “Why? Why is this happening? What can I do?” What I learn from the Tao is that such questions are not to be answered. Such things simply are. Life has its own rhythms, and the why of it is unknown. “The reed that bends in the wind does not break,” I always tell myself, paraphrasing Confucius. The Empty Vessel — Page 26
Wisdom is seeing that you are not separate from the current of Life, and that you must follow where it leads. My Walloo comes to this wisdom with time. It comes to understand that joys and griefs come and go, and that acceptance gets us further than fighting it in despair. For Walloo, the moment of acceptance is also when the miracle occurs, and it is able to share its wisdom with an enlightened child. I first saw the Klootchy Creek Sitka, as it was known, in 2003. In 2004 I gave birth to Walloo, who impressed its wisdom on
me. Sadly, the original tree was injured by a wind storm in 2006. Another wind storm in 2011 further injured it, requiring the Parks service to cut much of its height away, due to safety concerns. Today, only the stump remains, a reminder that even the old and the wise have an end, which is also a beginning in the never-ending flow of the Tao.
Title: “Walloo: The Oldest Tree” Author: Asha Hawkesworth
