Our Friends the Trees -- May 8th, 2011

Our Friends the Trees -- May 8th, 2011

There is something irresistible about trees.



A recently discovered friend near the end of Goose Island
Trail, Creek Farm Reservation, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

(Photo by Ross Bachelder -- May 6th, 2011)



One can plant them, nurture them, doctor them, climb them, trim them, sit beneath them, contemplate them, display them, alter them, carve heartfelt sentiments on them, make the finest furniture and the most accomodating homes from them.

And one can chop them down or take them for granted, but one had better have a good reason doing so.

Is it not remarkable that one can have a tree as a friend? Trees have such monumentality! Such quiet nobility! And they're marvelously steadfast, meaning no ill for any human as they stand at the ready, tall and available, offering shelter, shade and the irresistible fruits of their earth-bound fecundity.

And yet many communities, countries and cultures around the world are at war with trees, exploiting them for profit, destroying them to make room for questionable developments, showing naught but the most profound disrespect for their invaluable presence in our lives.



The beginning of Goose Island Trail,

A most inviting path to the ocean's edge

at Creek Farm Reservation in Portsmouth -- 

One of the many forests cared for and

protected by the Society for the Pro-

tection of New Hampshire Forests.

(Photo by Ross Bachelder --  May 6th, 2011)

 Whole city streets have been stripped of their trees, robbing their inhabitants of their breathtaking beauty and indisputable utility. Fields and meadows, once lovingly decorated with trees, have been ravished by the wanton, wholesale destruction of forest and grove, fresh-born sapling and gnarled centurian. Trees hundreds and even thousands of years old have been vandalized for cruel and senseless reasons.

As we rush from spring into summer here in New England, let us pause and reflect on trees as indispensible resources, as living, growing objects of beauty, as protectors of ourselves and our planet, and as the inspiration for often sublime poetry that speaks to the importance of trees in our lives from the cradle, where we lie as infants within easy reach of a tree we'll soon be climbing, to the grave, where trees will without hesitation offer themselves as our eternal companions.

What is there not to love about trees?

Be good to them. They deserve our respect! One day soon, in rain or sun, go and sit beneath a tree you've met for the very first time. Read a book there. Draw the tree and its surroundings. And listen to that tree and its neighbors as they whisper amongst themselves about their day. They've much to teach us if we'll just slow down and allow ourselves to be open to their nearly infinite possibilities.

                                                                                             -- Ross Bachelder
                                                                                                 May 8th, 2011


Like any good and loyal friend, a tree has a natural inclination

To reach out and touch us, provide us with shelter and

protect us from harmful influences. This tree at Goose Island

Trail in Portsmouth has the shores of the Atlantic as its

constant companion, but would welcome a visit from you!

Photo by Ross Bachelder -- May 6th, 2011



"Did you know that trees talk? Well, they do. They talk to each other, and they'll talk to you if you listen. Trouble is, white man don't listen. They never learned to listen to other voices in nature. But I have learned a lot from trees: sometimes about the weather, sometimes about animals, sometimes about the Great Spirit." 

        

       -- Tatange Mani, a Stoney Indian,

          quoted in "Touch the Earth."