A Tree on the Rift

Since the beginning of time, man has been engaged in struggle between good/right and evil/wrong. Sometimes we are victorious over our passions and other times we succumb to temptation. Regardless of the outcome, these forces rage an inextricable struggle in all of us. It is impossible to quarantine, excise, dissect or suppress our base desires from our lofty aspirations. There is no escape, but there is survival. Bruce Colbert’s A TREE ON THE RIFT tells thirteen different stories in thirteen different locations in the world where people are forced to face their passions, their weaknesses and all to often their immoral, self-centered behavior. These thirteen experiences strike something very visceral in our core. One cannot help being drawn into Colbert’s world. While writers all too often become exhibitionists to their voyeuristic readers as seen in the Bible, The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales, Colbert’s stories allows us to peer through our neighbor’s windows, look in their secret drawers and learn what really goes on in their lives. After all, don’t we really want to do is see what others do when no one is watching? Do we do the same thing? A TREE ON THE RIFT not only gives a hint of hope and redemption but it also gives us knowledge of what it means to be a human being dealing with life’s violent and unforgiving nature. Louis M. Boxer, M.D.