I love hearing what this tree awoke in you. And the life you gave it through this piece. Your writing also made me think of all the living trees we pass by without gratitude. My neighborhood has many big old trees, but I don't see as many teenage trees growing up behind them. And yet, I know that it's the trees that hold the energy for this neighborhood... they make it what it is!
This is the essence of how life is networked, and without generations together, we run the risk of losing something in the process. This is similar to in human societies when young people do not have access to older folks who hold so much rich knowledge and experience. With trees, it often means the newer ones will have a harder time of it without the rich infrastructure and relationships of kin to support them.
The shift from seeing the tree as debris to recognizing it as witness to severed reciprocity is powerful. Most ecospirituality writing stops at gratitude practice, but naming the absence of return gets at somthing deeper. That juxtaposition with luxury apartments isn't accidental - wealth does buy distance from consequence. I've noticed this in my own life when convenience choices accumulate into a pattern of taking wthout acknowledgment. Simple but uncomfortable truth.
Thank you for this deep processing of my post and how this fits into larger narratives. I am grateful for your sharing this, as it helps me further process my own path and hopefully contribute it forward.
Good reflection. Some additional thoughts - we used to go way out in the country to a Christmas tree farm where you rode a haywagon out into the fields, pointed where you wanted to get out, and then wandered around to pick your tree. There was a sign posted in the cute little shop that sold wreaths and hot chocolate explaining that these trees were a valuable part of our agriculture in this state, that they managed their land so that there was a continuous cycle of baby, young and maturing trees and cycled through what was open for cutting each year. Then a friend recently put out a call for people to bring their discarded trees to her small farm for her goats to eat. Oh and the city holds a big week-long grinding on an empty lot and will scoop up loads of mulch to drop into your pickup to take home (which we've also done). Lastly, the few years we did buy a live tree from that farm, we put it out in the small woods behind our property where we knew local wildlife would nest, hide, and otherwise find refuge in it (which they have) as it slowly returned to the earth. But I agree with your essay that most people are probably not that mindful about their trees.
You have approached this with an EcoSpiritual lens, and thank you for sharing these experiences. Perhaps they may invite ideas to others who read this later!
I love hearing what this tree awoke in you. And the life you gave it through this piece. Your writing also made me think of all the living trees we pass by without gratitude. My neighborhood has many big old trees, but I don't see as many teenage trees growing up behind them. And yet, I know that it's the trees that hold the energy for this neighborhood... they make it what it is!
This is the essence of how life is networked, and without generations together, we run the risk of losing something in the process. This is similar to in human societies when young people do not have access to older folks who hold so much rich knowledge and experience. With trees, it often means the newer ones will have a harder time of it without the rich infrastructure and relationships of kin to support them.
The shift from seeing the tree as debris to recognizing it as witness to severed reciprocity is powerful. Most ecospirituality writing stops at gratitude practice, but naming the absence of return gets at somthing deeper. That juxtaposition with luxury apartments isn't accidental - wealth does buy distance from consequence. I've noticed this in my own life when convenience choices accumulate into a pattern of taking wthout acknowledgment. Simple but uncomfortable truth.
Thank you for this deep processing of my post and how this fits into larger narratives. I am grateful for your sharing this, as it helps me further process my own path and hopefully contribute it forward.
Good reflection. Some additional thoughts - we used to go way out in the country to a Christmas tree farm where you rode a haywagon out into the fields, pointed where you wanted to get out, and then wandered around to pick your tree. There was a sign posted in the cute little shop that sold wreaths and hot chocolate explaining that these trees were a valuable part of our agriculture in this state, that they managed their land so that there was a continuous cycle of baby, young and maturing trees and cycled through what was open for cutting each year. Then a friend recently put out a call for people to bring their discarded trees to her small farm for her goats to eat. Oh and the city holds a big week-long grinding on an empty lot and will scoop up loads of mulch to drop into your pickup to take home (which we've also done). Lastly, the few years we did buy a live tree from that farm, we put it out in the small woods behind our property where we knew local wildlife would nest, hide, and otherwise find refuge in it (which they have) as it slowly returned to the earth. But I agree with your essay that most people are probably not that mindful about their trees.
You have approached this with an EcoSpiritual lens, and thank you for sharing these experiences. Perhaps they may invite ideas to others who read this later!