Photo courtesy of author

Not all trees are equal. Some are bigger, older, and more majestic than others. Of course, all trees matter, but not to the same degree or in the same kind of ways.

Some trees become the focal point of a neighborhood because of their beauty, age, and scale. They become a place where people gather together, and they take on a symbolic significance within the community.

And some trees have a more personal meaning. They matter because we pass them every day. When walking the dog or driving to work. They are like old friends. A permanent fixture in our lives. A reliable and trusted presence that makes us feel secure and comfortable.

And so, when someone attacks one of these “special” trees, it can be deeply moving. We are left asking “why?” and “what does this mean?”

Here is my tree story.

A Real-Life Murder Mystery

It was a sticky Friday morning in July.

We know the dog isn’t fond of hotter, summer temperatures, and so, my wife decided to go out early when the temperature was still in the low seventies. Our dog is usually very excited about her walk, but this time was different. She was restless and stressed. Tail down. Ears back. Rapid panting. Was it the weather? Or something else?

Once outside, my wife sensed that things were different. The penetrating smell of burnt wood and resin filled the air. All the birds that frequent the neighborhood had fled. Swirling blackened leaves, unlike anything she had seen before, gave the things an eerie, almost apocalyptic feeling.

What had happened?

A few hours earlier, a group of teenage boys set fire to a 262-year-old tree about one mile from our house. Firefighters responded quickly but couldn’t prevent the tree from being severely damaged.

My wife sent me a picture. You could still see the smoldering timber.

The caption of her picture simply read “shocking.”

Survival of the Fittest

The plane tree was planted in a castle garden, as a symbol of renewal, around the year 1760. Right at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

The story goes that early images of the garden already showed the majestic appearance of the tree. As the king of the garden, it must have been a focal point for the castle’s owners to meet and make big, world-changing decisions.

The tree “witnessed” the French Revolution and the disappearance of castles from the landscape. It even survived the demolition of the castle and its garden in 1930.

The tree has shown great adaptability over the years. It watched the first cars passing by and planes flying high overhead. It gave comfort to people who lost their savings during stock market crashes. It became a landmark of sentimental value for the many young couples who regularly met or got married under it.

It welcomed the US troops during the Second World War. Watching the moon from under the tree must have been mesmerizing in the 1960s, when more and more people were dreaming of the first moon landing. I am sure drugs and rock ‘n roll were familiar to the tree as well.

But also in the digital age, the tree was able to survive, find a new purpose, and acquire a place in the future. The area around the tree was regularly used for festivals and other gatherings.

It was an almost spiritual feeling to be around the tree.

The tree is a manifestation of the resilience of nature. The widest part of the crown measured more than 120 feet.

But now it is on life support. The fire badly damaged the trunk, part of the bark, and the branches at the top. The hope is that the root system is still in a healthy condition. If so, there is a chance that the tree will recover in approximately forty years.

The community is devastated. To help save the tree, local residents started a successful crowdfunding campaign. But it doesn’t answer the question that keeps popping up any time I talk about it with anyone: Why?

“Is it a Sign?”

It seems unlikely that the teenagers deliberately planned their regicide. More likely they were bored and were just killing time. Perhaps it was an accident. They relieved their ennui by playing with fire, “accidentally” destroying this symbol of our neighborhood. Or perhaps it was a spontaneous act of violence. The kind of stupid, testosterone-fueled decision that any group of young boys can make.

I pass the tree every day. And when I see its damaged and blackened trunk, I feel genuinely moved that such a magnificent part of nature is now in such a perilous state. I can feel its pain and suffering.

But more than that, the current state of the tree is symbolic of the direction we are heading.

Like the tree, our planet has always been resilient. But, like my tree, the Earth is close to living on life support.

If we don’t act soon, the next thirty to forty years will provide us with an answer: apocalypse or renewal.

The experts give the tree a thirty percent survival rate, and they are doing everything they can to save it.

Unfortunately, we aren’t doing the same for our planet. Sure, we talk about ways to change but when push comes to shove, nothing is done.

I wonder what our odds for survival are. Fifty percent? Thirty? Or even less.

Humanity is too occupied with itself. We overvalue our own importance and fail to see that some things are bigger and more important than us. It is a terrible pity that it took the attempted murder of a 262-year-old tree to see this.