From: "Marty Haber"

Lisa,
(...) The pleasure of working with trees, increasing their beauty as you
work, is the
real reward in bonsai.

Thanks, Marty. I am in full agreement.

It's the process, not the result that counts.

...... unless one sees the increased beauty as a result. Don't you agree?

If you think of it in these terms, you will never look back with regret
upon the hours,
months and years spent with bonsai.

No, but dread the future somewhat, nonetheless.
===========================
From: "Jim Lewis"

(...) There's absolutely no point in getting emotionally involved with a
tree in a pot.
There are always more where that one came from.

Just keep telling yourself that, Jim, and you'll be OK. ;-)))
===========================
From: "Alan Walker"

It doesn't matter so much that our bonsai don't purr or wag their tails or
get all
excited to see us. For many of us, the sentiment comes from our personal
investment
into the bonsai. This is not so different from the uncomfortable feelings
one has
wen selling a home and listening to the prospective buyers talk about how
they want
to change something that you really worked on and made the house special
to you.

That's it to a 't'. The investment that comes through involvement when we
work on our trees, the visualising while we prune and wire, the watching
when we go out to do the watering, the enjoyment when our efforts bear the
desired fruit.
================================
From: "Andy Rutledge"

(...) The fact is that the artist and the tree have a partnership that
necessitates
cooperation in ways not found in most (any?) other art(s).

Where else but in bonsai do you use a medium that creates itself, as much as
you create it? Where else do you have to adapt, as much as you ask your
medium to adapt? Where else do you feel that special respect, generated by a
_living _ medium?

Selling or giving away something that is unfinished, with the balance of
"our" plans
being unrealized is a bit different than selling/giving away a work of
art/possession that does not carry this kind of baggage.

Yes, it breaks a thread, one that ties you to you, and you to the tree.
==========================
From: "John Carnes"

I would suggest that if you have to get rid of some trees you might
consider giving them to friends, or beginners or people at your local
bonsai club.

We do that all the time, John, like a lot of people here. Or we sell for low
prices at our annual shows. But giving away or selling some of the best
trees in our collection, i.e. those in which we have invested a lot, is a
different matter.

Some might cringe at the thought of giving a nice tree to a beginner.

One should never give anything _but_ a nice tree to a beginner, specifically
because he is a beginner and could not handle anything without a good
potential. Personally I don't give away trees that I should not enjoy
working on myself.
===========================
With thanks to all,

Lisa