I've sat here for decades. I haven't moved an inch. No storm can take me down and no rain can wash away my bark. No wind can twist my trunk and no sun can burn me up. Nothing can shake me. Nothing except for tears.

People will come and sit under me and sob. That's been the same forever. But over the years, the reason has changed. It used to be because girls wanted to do something other than wash dishes and do laundry. Now it's because girls feel they weigh too much or don't look the way everyone wants them to. It used to be because boys didn't want to fight in the war. Now it's because boys feel they aren't as athletic as everyone wants them to be.

The tears rip me apart like no hurricane ever could. The sobs eat at my soul until I can't take it anymore. I long to reach out and hold them tight. But I can't. I'm stuck. In one place, forever.

No matter the time or the reason, one thing is for sure. The pain is real and the hurt is overflowing. Even after 200 years of sitting here and watching the broken world and people fly by, the pain hasn't lessened. It hasn't stopped. And it won't.

Some things never change.

Some things stay the same.

But the things you wish would change always stay the same.

And the things you wish would stay the same always change.

This world is full of changing things staying the same.

And it will be.

Forever.