Yesterday I was in the city, waiting at the usual place to catch a connecting bus to my destination. Opposite the bus stop is a tiny short street off the large main one, and at the end of the street grew a tree. A most unlikely place for this tree, jammed up against the buildings as it was, but it was a welcome patch of green among the concrete and steel.
Till yesterday. By the time I arrived, the tree had been removed although the work crew were still there attending to the ‘clean-up’. Installing pavers. It is called ‘hardscaping’ and that is surely what it is. Hard. No longer is there a tree to soften the landscape, to filter the air and simply be.
I felt the pain of loss. Anger at the insensibility of it all. Pity for those who had admired the tree on their way to work and could no longer.
This act is just another example of the mindlessness taking place on this planet at this time. When will it cease? Have we run out of time? I think so……
ECD said,
October 3, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I feel that way, too. I remember as a news reporter, attending a ground-breaking for, of all things, some kind of a gas station or something years ago. I felt very annoyed when the developer just casually swept his hand towards a row of trees and commanded their removal to “improve” the view from the road or something.