“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”
Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
This happened this week in my town. I drove by the intersection that had been graced by beautiful old trees by the road, in front of a charming older home. It’s all gone now. The trees laying on the ground. The home partially torn down.
I literally had a physical reaction to the view. There aren’t many trees that old still standing. These were healthy and huge and added beauty to the entrance of the town.
Why were they cut down? Oh, so we can add a SIXTH grocery store, MORE shopping and multi-family units.
I wanted to go run my hands across the rough tree bark, lean my head against them and whisper an apology for the greed of my species.
I believe in a Judgement Day, Karma and a Reckoning. There will come a day when humans will account for their abuses and I do not believe that the judgement will be limited to just how we treated other humans. Our ancestors recognized and revered the life force of the earth, animals, plants, water and air. They knew their survival was dependent on the continuing health and life cycles of all that makes up this planet.
If not us, our grandchildren will pay dearly for our sins agains nature. The older I become the more convinced I am that if we don’t stop making such foolish choices in the name of “progress”, the sheepskin that covers the wolf of greed, we will not have to worry about education, race, or sexual preferences. We will be too focused on finding food, clean water and air to bother with such frivolous things. Money has very little nutritional value.
I’m glad that I will soon be moving out of town. I have lived here almost twenty years and love the people and the small town charm and I will continue to be a part of the community, but the urban sprawl is upon us now. Twenty years ago three quarters of the shopping centers, restaurants, etc. were not here. Neither was the horrendous traffic. The southern section of the town has been under construction for years and is almost unrecognizable from what it was ten years ago. The western side where I currently live has been ravaged by the construction of a major bypass. I expect the noise level will as bad or worse than the construction is when it is open.
It is time for me to return to the sanity of rural living. I will have to adjust to a lack of convenience, but the fact that I will once again be surrounded by woods, streams, wild animals and quiet is a fair trade. A high traffic day on the road is three cars. Our hope is that we can leave enough wild earth that our grandchildren will have some idea of what this planet was like before greed ruled the world.
P.S. I apologize for last week’s missing post. There was frantic scrambling to finish garden chores before a rain deluge set in, then when I found time to write my internet service was down. I finally gave up and soothed my frustration with a homemade pizza.
Pencils, Paint & Paper 