We've been re-watching the Lord of the Rings, and Treebeard is one of my favorite characters. I wonder how different human life would be if we could talk with creatures who lived not just for centuries but millenia. The fact that we have written history gives us something of the kind of perspective beyond our short lives, but I think it is easy to marginalize "dead" voices. I guess, come to think of it, most of us find it easy to marginalize "live" voices we don't like, so maybe it would make no difference. At least if the trees could talk, maybe we'd have a harder time believing the fate of humanity is the be-all and end-all of existence.