Get the tissues: Someone turned a felled Oakland tree into a ‘Giving Tree’ tribute

© Harper & Row The cover of the Shel Silverstein classic ‘The Giving Tree.’If it’s been a few years (or decades) since you read ‘The Giving Tree,’ here’s a reminder of the book’s enduring message.

Oakland resident Phoebe Calef recently saw a tree cut down near her Lake Merritt neighborhood. But although the tree reached the end of its life, it didn’t reach the end of its usefulness. An anonymous stranger took the stump, already carved into a rustic chair, and wrote a passage from the Shel Silverstein classic ‘The Giving Tree’ on it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRgd-Bygnll/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=7

For those needing a refresher on the child’s book — and adult tear-jerker — the eponymous tree spends its life giving fruit, shade and, finally, its stump to a boy that it loves. The passage written on the Oakland tree is from the end of the book:

‘I don’t need very much now,’

said the boy,

‘just a quiet place to sit and rest.

I am very tired.’

‘Well,’ said the tree,

straightening herself up

as much as she could,

‘well, an old stump is good

for sitting and resting.

Come, Boy, sit down.

Sit down and rest.’

And the boy did.

The image of the stump chair has gone viral on Reddit and social media, eliciting thousands of comments and quite a few tears.

Katie Dowd

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/get-the-tissues-someone-turned-a-felled-oakland-tree-into-a-giving-tree-tribute/ar-AAolLyg