There’s a massive tree that hangs over a road I travel every day. And I haven’t really recognized it’s presence until today as I drove by and saw several men cutting it down.

Some things we just don’t pay attention to until the process begins whereby they are taken away.

Now we start to cry out, “Why are you removing such a gorgeous tree?! It looks beautiful and lush. It has covered this road so wonderfully, reminding us of the presence of nature within all of this busy rush rush.”

Then, of course, you talk to the people cutting it down and they tell you, “It’s rotting”. They tell you, “If we don’t cut it, it’ll fall on its own and  if it falls on its own it’ll hurt somebody and we don’t want to experience a tragedy that we could avoid. We’re removing this thing that, on the outside, looks beautiful, looks amazing, looks like this great source of shelter and…and…and…because it might just kill us. And this isn’t how we want to die.”

Recorded as a voice memo on October 21, 2019.