The Giving Tree Is Made of Happy

Originally, this post was going to be on Shel Silverstein‘s book, The Giving Tree. I may still post something on that later, but I found this amazing gem on YouTube.

According to the description with the video:

there’s a new book forest on the streets of berlin. it’s a place where people can leave and find old books.

It’s such a beautiful idea. That it hasn’t been vandalized makes me think that I need to have more faith in the goodness of people. And that’s something this blog is about, so I’m glad I saw this.

Berliners are made of happy! And literacy & community, apparently. 😀

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2 Responses to “The Giving Tree Is Made of Happy”

  1. holly says:

    This is great.

    But, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein always struck me as a sad tale about a selfish boy/man and a tree who gave it all and got nothing back.

  2. gladmin says:

    I agree about the selfish boy/man. I think the part I loved about it was that it was clear to everyone, even a small child reading the story for the first time, that the boy was being selfish. And that right thing to do was to learn that being selfish in the face of unconditional love was distinctly wrong.

    For me, it was very much a story of a loving parent and their child. The parent is unwavering and selfless in their love, and the child is at times hurtful. Again, this is not framed as being normal or right, but as something that needed to change. The child learns and regrets the callousness of his youth and begins to understand the depth and breath of that kind of selfless love.