Destructive act

Many years ago, while camping in a provincial campground in British Columbia, Canada I found a pole that had been cut from a live tree, possibly to support a tarpaulin. I was disturbed that someone would destroy a live tree in the park with a thoughtless blow of an axe. I was even more disturbed when I learned how old the tree had been.

When I tried to count the growth rings I found it impossible to do on site. I took a small section of the pole home with me to investigate it further. In order to be able to count the growth rings I had to sand the sample to a polished finish. Although the tree was only two inches in diameter it was, at the height I took the sample, one hundred and three years old. How I wished the person who cut the tree had known and had respected nature in the form of this tree. The tree had already gained years beyond what most humans can expect to live and, had it not been destroyed in an instant, it could have lived for several human lifetimes.