I Saw a Boy Talking to a Tree

I saw a boy talking to a tree. He looked to be about six or seven years old. He looked very serious as if they were having a conversation. I heard him say, “Why do you grow away?”  

Then he stood there with his head tilted, slightly sideways presumably waiting for an answer.
This got me thinking. What did he mean? Was he asking the tree why it grows up, away from him, or the ground? Was the question about why children grow up and away from their parents? Why do we grow away from each other?

Does this boy understand what is happening in the world? Does he know about global warming, fires, earthquakes, floods? Is he asking why the trees are going away?

It made me very sad and I have nothing more to say about this. I’ll have to think about it.

This is a drawing of my son I did in 2002, when he was 9 years old.  He was deep in thought. I wonder what he was thinking about.