Burn Down the House to Stay Warm

I have a friend who worked for a tree service, and he once told me of a client who had a 100+ year-old oak cut down so their grass could get more sun. A non-native monocrop whose beauty and practicality don’t hold a candle to the tree’s is determined the more valuable party. I know beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but come on. Perhaps this is an extreme comparison, but that’s like giving your toddler away so you can get a good night’s sleep. Just painfully short-sighted.

It seems like we get these solutions all the time…

1. Instead of building trains, we widen the highways every few years, which typically just invites more traffic (referred to as induced demand).

2. Industry executives, be it health insurance, banking, commodities, etc. will fight tooth and nail into their 70s and 80s for profits, bonuses, and market share, only for their actions to cause societal issues for decades after they die, when their money is of no use to them (one can argue it was no use to them while alive either; life at $30 million is indistinguishable from life at $40 million, so I hear).

3. We bomb ancient buildings for the fleeting victory it may bring in battle, thus the following hundred generations miss out on the beauty the previous hundred enjoyed (exhibit A in the photo, taken after the battle of Monte Cassino).

I won’t pretend to have all the answers for these issues, and short-term gains are sometimes a necessary evil. But it’s too rampant not to at least point out.

It’s strange to think generationally, especially in an age where instant gratification is the bestselling product in the world. We want results, confirmation, comfort, and we want it now. But some things are simply too big for that, and the best we can do is contribute to them in our own little way.

Here’s to planting trees whose shade we’ll never see.

-John ✌️