I've lived a long life.

I was born quite a long time ago, about the time of the building of the Great Pyramid.  When I was a youngling, my namesake was born, and he lived almost a thousand years. But I outlasted him, he eventually died, and 7 days later the world was covered in a great flood (good thing I live on high ground).  I remember the time of Solomon and David, the Babylonians and the Greeks.  Rome was a flash in the pan; Caesar was a punk.

I heard about the star in the east and the three wise men.  I have watched as that message spread around the world.  I have learned of the battles of the old world, and the launching of the great imperial fleets.  I was here when the conquistadors landed on these shores.  I've known the Spanish, the French, the British and now the Americans.

I remember the day they found me.  They called themselves scientists and they came to uncover the secrets of my kind.  They poked us and prodded us, and drilled a hole in me.  When they tried to drill a hole in my friend Prometheus, he broke their instrument.  So they cut him down and dragged him away, leaving nothing but a lonely stump behind. I miss him; he was even older than I am.

Thankfully, they realized their mistake and changed their ways. A man named J. Sterling Morton started speaking out for trees.  He told people to save the old ones, and plant many more.  He created what they call "Arbor Day."  Each day on this date these people plant thousands of new trees. They've been doing it for the past 138 years.  It's a wonderful thing.   

And I should know.  I've been around 35 times longer than that.  Here, on the harsh slopes of Mount Wheeler in California.  (I can't tell you exactly where or what I look like; after what happened to Prometheus, they have kept my exact identity and location secret, to keep me safe.)  I'm not just the oldest living tree, I'm the oldest living THING, in the world.  I am 4,842 years old.

I am a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine.  I am called Methuselah.  

And I bid you a fine Arbor Day.

You can read previous installments of the quick Sliver in our online archive.  Just go here: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs015/1103023679528/archive/1103033975377.html