The Worth of a Tree

I live in an extremely wealthy part of my city. It's not that I'm rich, because I could never afford to buy a house down here. Most of the people who live here have either lived here for the past 50 years (before it was a real estate hot spot) or they have built their home in the past five years and even though it's a house on a piece of land the size of a postage stamp - their home is easily worth over a millions dollars. I often clash with the people who live in this area because I have spent most of my life so incredibly poor that the idea of buying a hamburger at McDonald's is luxurious in my world. The people down here would never eat at McDonald's for ethical reasons, environmental reasons, and because they are just too good to step into a restaurant like that.

Lately, there was a dispute about a spruce tree that was growing on the property line between two houses (there's a picture of a spruce tree, but trust me - that one is a lot more beautiful than on the one everyone was fighting about). One of the houses was sold and immediately torn down to make room for a larger house. The old one was about the size of a double garage. Like I said, the lots around here are the size of postage stamps, so to make a house of a reasonable size, the entire lot would have to be used - including the space that half of this spruce tree occupied.

The whole neighborhood was in a knot about this for environmental reasons, but when I heard about it I didn't understand what the fuss was about. Yes, cutting down trees is sad, but in my opinion - someone's house is a good cause. And LEGALLY - I believe the people cutting it down were completely within their rights if it's on the property line.

Today I was walking past these two houses. The tree was not cut down, but it might as well have been for what was left of it. There is a sign in the window of the injured party saying that the tree was worth $60,000 dollars (Spruce Christmas trees are sold for $50), it was theirs and the people who cut it down MURDERED it and didn't apologize. Every time I have walked past this house (the other one isn't finished yet), I get this dark uncomfortable feeling. Today, I decided it was hate. This feeling of hate is radiating off of this house. Can the people inside it be happy? Will they be able to get along with the people who move into the house beside them? Do they feel happy when they step into their front porch and take off their boots - right beside those signs that advertise to the community that they hate their neighbors? How long will they hold onto these angry feelings? And over so small a thing? To me, a tree is utterly insignificant compared to the things some people have been able to forgive.

I think it was when they used to word 'murdered' that my feelings got damaged. I have grown trees to adulthood. You plant the seeds, then you water them. You water them often to help them grow. You might put a stick beside it and tie the tree to it to help it grow. Once it gets big enough you don't have to water it anymore (not here anyway) and then you only have to trim it in the spring - or not depending on how the tree is shaped.

But I've also had a baby. Comparing the trouble of having a baby to growing a tree is absolutely insulting. I had morning sickness where I threw up 1 - 9 times a day, every day for 90 days. Felt sick every moment of that and came up with a list a mile long of things I would never eat again, things I would never listen to again, and things I would never look again again because they all remind me of how awful I felt. I felt uncomfortable and miserable for the other 6 months of the term, endured 10 hours of hard transition labour, and to top it all off tore. Then the care and attention a baby takes makes (not to mention the financial burden) growing a tree equivalent to a finger snap.

As my final thought - people have forgiven people for killing their children. Bearing a grudge over a tree is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS! Let's get some perspective.