Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I am the Poet in the Forest,
a children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest.
Speaker 2: What a lot of people don't realize about this collection
of trees is how important it is to just come
out here, step on the path and just receive, to listen,
to learn from, to open your eyes as well as
open your heart. Today, the moment I'm in this forest,
something came to me. Because I'm always wondering why certain
people don't gel with each other, why certain people don't
create together, why there's always a wall, And then this
forest almost spoke out to me. I heard something very
deep inside my heart, because I do believe in that rule.
If you don't speak to me, I won't speak to you.
That does come across as being self centered or conceited,
but it's just who I am, and it might be
something that I learned from my father because he was
that way as well. If you don't speak to me,
I won't speak to you because I don't want to
interrupt your life. But see, when I come out here
to this forest and I listen, do I ever speak
back to what it's willing to share with me.
Speaker 1: It's speaking to me. Why am I not speaking to it?
Speaker 2: Or on this path inside this forest what we're doing
right now? Maybe it's not the words that I share
with you, but rather the thoughts this forest has used
me to share with you.
Speaker 1: If you don't speak to me, I won't speak to you.
This forest does not play by that rule. Hey, thanks
for being a part of the conversation.