old trees: hug 'em, don't mug 'em - 1.27.03
Respecting elders
In Killing an Oak Tree [CounterPunch - 1.25.2003], Bruce Jackson tells the sad story of the pointless end of a great natural monument, an ancient white oak tree.
When asked about how I feel about gun control (typically by some NRA type) I like to say that I think citizens should be required to carry handguns, but that chainsaws should be subject to stringent licensing. We've got too many people and not enough trees, so this approach would almost certainly be to the long term good of society.
But seriously folks, it takes a century or more for nature to produce a really fine oak tree. Any moron can destroy it in a few hours. A man of average intelligence and a bit of experience can do it without dropping it on anybody's head.
Yes, I understand that trees sometimes need to be cut down. I've personally ordered the murder of quite a few, but I certainly didn't do it without serious planning and soul searching. But it's being done way to lightly, way too often. Where I live, the great old craggy native black oaks get cut down, often for no really good reason. Then they get 'replaced' by some wimpy, suburbanified 'garden' tree. In the process some ineffable link to nature is lost, some sense of the place is destroyed forever.
Respect your elders, even when they're leafy and can't say anything in their own defense.
