I was processing the content of a presentation I was scheduled to give in half an hour, when a certain coconut tree called out to me. I heeded the call and moved closer. Its top was full of fruit, which hung at strategic angles on the tree.

My eyes were riveted on the fruit as if that was the only important part of the coconut tree. But I was glad I did not miss the branches and the trunk. The fruit presented a captivating image before my eyes but the branches could not be ignored. And neither could the trunk, holding it all together.

It is in order to leave one’s eyes on the fruit and fixate our full gaze on the spectacle. It is also in order to fuss about fruitfulness and results but is not in order to ignore the branches and the trunk. It is not in order to ignore the less captivating but very important parts of the tree. What will the fruit be without the branches to moderate the wind blowing on the fruit? And what will become of the fruit without the sturdy support provided by the trunk? How many remember the branches or the trunk when the voice of the coconut rings loudly in the wind? Yet how many can ignore the undeniable lesson of the sun, distributing goodness to every part of the tree to make us see the result as beautiful? Who can tell how much measure of the sun shines on the fruit? Or how much measure shines on the branches and the trunk?

What is the point of the echo from the coconut tree? The point is that the coconut tree is more than the sum of its fruit. The coconut tree has parts that are of great value apart from the fruit. Every unit of society has parts are of great value. Every family has parts that are of great value and so on.