Each night beneath the ground, the most precious resource of all—water—moves up from the strong and out toward the weak, such that the sapling might live to fight another day. This water is not everything the sapling requires, but it must help a little, and the sapling needs all the help it can get if one hundred years from now there is still to be a maple tree defending this same plot of land. No parent can make life perfect for its offspring, but we are all moved to provide for them as best we can.
