On a beautiful hill in the country lived a young oak tree. This tree was planted several years ago, though the humans who planted it left the land in search of better opportunities in the city. The tree had a few happy years, enjoying the spring and summer, then having a beautiful autumn and surviving the winter. It was steadily growing here, the ground was fertile and the land was lush and giving.

One autumn day, a group of local kids found the tree on the hill. They were not respectful to Nature and found cruel ways to have fun. The kids decided to pick on this tree, breaking off it's beautiful limbs, cutting deep into it's trunk with pocket knives, and even using spray paint to write terrible graffiti all over the tree's body. They did not know the damage they were doing, nor did they even care. Trees don't have feelings, they're not really living. They're just things put here for them to destroy in their boredom.

They would never realize how wrong they were. The kids rode off on their bikes, leaving the tree behind. They would never come back to this tree again, but instead would find other trees to wreck.

The tree clinged to life. It had lost many of it's limbs, making it difficult to gather sunlight. It's roots were cut and stabbed repeatedly, a few of them unable to pull nutrients from the soil. The paint that covered it entered deep into it's body through the deep cuts, poisoning and killing it from the inside.

The tree died that afternoon, no longer the beautiful gift of Nature it was, but a grave sight of death. The remaining leaves fell from the top of the tree, and it rose from the hill much like an obelisk...much like a tombstone.

A few months passed, and during the early spring, a young doe approached the dead tree. She saw the deep gashes and strange markings that covered it, and she began to cry. "Oh my friend, what have they done to you?", she asked. The doe sat with the bare tree, drawing what little warmth she could from it. "I know how you feel...", she spoke, moving one of her legs that was caught in a trap a year ago. Her leg was scarred and painful to walk on.

"I know you cannot hear me, and I know you may have passed on, but I wish I could show you that I care so much for you.", the doe spoke. A gust of wind caught her fur, and she pressed up on the tree again. "The world can be so cruel, taking and destroying whatever it pleases. But there's always hope, there's always healing. That is why we keep living, that is why we continue to do good, because without us, the entire world would die."

And every day she visited the scarred tree, and continued to speak to it much like a close friend. She brought flowers, herbs, and other gifts, placing them on the roots of the tree. She did everything she could to honor the tree, her friend...

And on one spring morning, she found that the tree had grew very small leaves. Her kindness brought the tree back to life. The tree would grow and heal over time, and one day it was found once again by the very same kids who ruined it, though now they had learned respect and kindness. They took the time to clean off the old graffiti painted upon it, and it would soon be just as beautiful as it was before.

The doe came that afternoon and smiled to the tree. "No matter what happens to you, don't ever give up. For those who are cruel will learn and regret the evils they have done, but those who are kind have nothing to regret. Don't forget that."