You are not a tree

Tim Robinson writes in Connemara: Listen to the Wind about a certain tree in a forest:

Each tree has room to face in all directions (which is what distinguishes the presence of a tree from that of an animal)

An animal - or a human - is directional. So much about us follows from this. That we have a face, for example. And that we ‘face’ the world. That we move in the direction we are facing. That we are intentional creatures. So the difference between us and a tree is not just that we aren’t rooted to the spot, but that we are always in motion, heading somewhere, even in our dreams. That ‘here’ is not enough for us.

To have lived is not enough for them, as Beckett says. They have to talk about it.