RH
A note from Dr. Hendrix
This poem circles what I call the Western Tree — the hard-won inheritance of freedom that no generation gets for free, and that we must each decide to keep planting. I wrote it because I have come to believe liberty is not a possession you are handed but a thing you re-choose, and I wanted to say so.
— Dr. Roger Hendrix · We share these stories so you can know the family behind GreenTeaHP.
No generation gets off free. Don’t you see
We have nurtured the Western Tree.
We are free.
What’s not free is to think you are by nature
Free.
We must decide again if we will continue to plant the
Western Tree.
That’s what it means to be free.
Every where the Western Tree
Grows,
There will be those who will try to kill the spread of
The Western Tree.
That’s all it is, I think that is all there
Is to see.
Why would anyone want to kill the
Spreading of the Western Tree?
That’s what you and I have to see. You know
we are free: that’s what we need to see.
They don’t want you to be free. They don’t
Want their own to be free.
They think by killing you, you will
No longer want to grow Western Trees.
That’s what we must see and say once and for
All: We must persist in planting new
Western Trees.
But it’s just a tree. I don’t want to be killed over
A stupid tree, even if it is some kind of special tree.
Take the trees out. Get rid of all the
Western Trees.
That’s what they want you to do.
Tell me again, what is the Western Tree?