Dear Reader Column 08-21-06

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Dear Reader,

Buzz, whine, buzzz.......zzzzz.......zz. When I looked out the window someone was hacking the limbs off the tree in my yard. There was a crew of workers out in front of my house, orange cones lined the street, a flagman, and a guy in a white bucket high up in the air with a deadly chainsaw. What the heck was going on?

This scene looked familiar. They came around a few years ago--the tree cutters from the power company. I had to fend them off then because they wanted to chop down my palm trees and it looks like I'm going to have to do it again today.

I'm not a tree nut, I realize that trees, people, and power lines all have to find a way to coexist. But why do they need to cut down big, beautiful palm trees when all they really need is a good trim? That was my argument a few years ago and that's what I was trying to ask the man today. But the noise from his truck and the machine that was grinding up the tree limbs was deafening. The man couldn't hear me. I couldn't hear him and the guy with the deadly chain saw just kept cutting my trees.

So I did the only thing I could think of doing. I jumped in the tree cutter's truck, turned the motor off, took the keys out of the ignition and put them in my pocket.

Ah, silence. "Now can we talk?" I asked him.

He decided to quit for the day, but I knew he'd be back tomorrow morning to cut down my trees and I had no idea how to stop him. I dialed the mayor's number, but his secretary said he was at a ground breaking dinner. The city's regulation maze--I wasn't familiar with it and researching where to complain and how to fight the system, it was overwhelming. Besides where would I find the time to put up a fight? It's not like I had any free time in my day.

I was accepting defeat but I hadn't even put up a fight. Where was the old Suzanne? She used to fight the good fight when she needed to. Am I so consumed with my work that I don't have time to stand up for the things I believe in?

When I called a friend and told her my tree story she said not to worry. You don't have to take on every fight yourself. Everyone has their job in this world and she knew a woman who'd taken on the job of saving the trees. And 30 minutes later the Save the Trees woman telephoned, and told me to expect a call from an arborist who worked for the city. The arborist did call, in fact he stopped by my house early the next morning and he agreed that my trees just needed a good trimming.

I guess I did have the time to fight the good fight--I just needed a little help from a friend.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

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Comments

[Chris Budd]

Good for you! We live in Illinois and between the power companies and the IL Dept. of Transportation, few trees are spared. We need trees!

[ellen neal]

Reading your column just made my day. I am so glad you were able to save your trees. Trees are one of God's most precious gifts to mankind and most, it seems, blithly cut them down without a thought.
Thanks, Suzanne, for being YOU.