Sunday Morning Musings - A Community of Trees

You know how once you become aware of something, you see it everywhere?  Like when we bought our new to us car not so long ago, I started seeing the same model of car everywhere.  Well, community was like that for me this week.  It’s been on my mind a lot.  And, because of this, I’ve noticed it and its impact everywhere. 

This included two very good conversations I had about community.  One with a local business owner and one with the manager of a local event.  In both cases, the talk focussed around our attitude to community in this area.  (When I say this area, I am talking about the metropolitan Owen Sound area which includes the town and the smaller communities around it - the elephant’s ass, for those of you who understand my reference).

As I sat in my thought tub this morning having my coffee, I had a sudden realization that perhaps our trees are trying to teach me something about community.  You may remember that the lot next door to us was recently cleared of most of its trees.  Shortly after, a wind storm brought down even more, including a tree at the end of our laneway that took down two hydro poles.

I can’t say that the lot clearing was at fault for all of the trees falling, but the vast majority of the ones that fell, came down right along our property line where they were no longer protected by their family of trees.  And some of them, including the one that landed on the power line, came up by their roots, which suggests their foundation had been weakened.

Which brings me back to the conversations I had this week and the problems that were identified.

1) Our community can be very cliquey.  Often, the people who get most involved in running things come from a very privileged position - this makes sense as they have the most free time.  But they also have the most supports to stand alone.  The problem with this is they sometimes seem more interested in planting and nourishing a small cluster of trees rather than the whole forest (I was reminded a couple of times this week how narrow-minded some of my “open minded” friends can be).

2) Some who live here are very quick to “talk shit” about our community.  I’m not talking about bringing up genuine concerns; I’m talking about making unnecessary comments that serve no other purpose than to get a reaction.  Just this week, I posted a photo of downtown Owen Sound and almost immediately comments were made like “Owen Sound sucks” and “Where are the crackheads?”  To me, this is like going into the forest with an axe and taking a few chops at a tree here and there.  Weakening the trees (in the name of ego) for the next time the wind blows.  And, in the end, like happened here, weakening the whole forest.

So, in the end, what lessons can we learn from this?  We are only as healthy as our entire community?  We all have a role that should be valued?  We need to focus more on solidarity and less on “rugged individualism”?  If nothing else, perhaps we should stop trying to cut others down to make ourselves stand out.  Because, in the end, we might bring down the whole forest…including ourselves.