Red Bud Trees

Red Bud trees are a beautiful treat for the eyes when they bloom in early spring. Their blossoms make a strikingly attractive contrast when they grow beside the lovely, white-blooming Bradford Pear trees. But wait. Why are they called red bud trees? They aren’t red. When they are up against red bricks it’s easy to see they are Not Red. They are purple. There is a legend that says Judas Iscariot hanged himself on a red bud tree and it is called red bud because the tree is embarrassed. Besides, the sound of Purple Bud Tree doesn’t roll off the tongue well. It sounds a bit more awkward to our ears. Regardless of what the reason might be for its name, the tree’s purple blossoms which line its branches, bring us a pleasing sight every spring, The tree contributes its gorgeous beauty to our world when it awakens from winter.

This makes me ponder the squabbles that sometimes arise over other words in our lives, other names people call each other, or spats that derides ideas and theories that differ from ours. When divisive ideas try to create tiffs or divert our attention away from enjoying the people in this world, when we succumb to name calling or arguing over other minor issues, we lose opportunities to enjoy lovely people. Getting all tangled up in name calling or semantics (the subtle shades of word meanings) can cheat us out of the beauty of knowing some human beings who might delight us as much as the red bud tree in full bloom.