BEDTIME STORY FOR WILMER What Mother Nature Discovered in the Woods Near Here Mother Nature was walking in the woods in a park that a Lady long ago had helped to set aside for the Tribe called People to enjoy. she was shocked to see all the trash that the thoughtless among The People had dropped along the pathways and trails. Suddenly, Mother Nature heard a groaning and a moaning so frightful and so sad and full of hurt, it quite startled her. She looked around to see what had made such a fearful and mournful sound. She didn’t see anyone. But, she was determined to find the source of the mournful cries. Mother Nature hadn’t walked this forest in a long, long time. The Park had once been free of the debris. Now, it was everywhere. There used to be a small Tribe among the People called Park Caretakers. But now, there were now no Caretakers for the parks and because there were also some things called “budget cuts”. What could be making that awful and sad, sad cry? The frogs, turtles and fish didn’t have a place to live in the forest anymore. The creek was gone. It took up too much valuable space according to a Tribe of The People called Developers. Besides after it rained, the creek and its big brother the river would spread out over their floodplains. Neither would stay in their banks. And, both had plastic cups and paper floating in it and plastic bags and toilet paper hung from the branches of the trees along their banks and it looked unsightly. The People that had begged for the Park didn’t seem to know or care that whatever they threw on the ground would wind up in the creek and the river. They seemed to think that the street gutters wound up in some great city vacuum cleaner. The People were so dumb. They didn’t even care that what went on or into the ground would wind up in their drinking water. They put one creek in a big concrete pipe and buried it. Out of sight and out of mind. They built an office building, a mall, and parking lot, on top of it. The Tribe that called themselves Developers said they wanted something different. In the Peoples language “de” has a negative meaning and the Tribe called Developers seemed to be doing their best to live up to the “De” in their Tribal name. Not only was the creek gone, so was the pond. The Tribe called Developers had drained the pond. It was dangerous. Someone might fall in and drown they said. It was easier to drain the pond than learn how to be safe around water and besides things lived in the water. It also got rid of the noisy frogs and the other things that lived around the pond. There had been a man named Roosevelt who had encouraged the planting of trees in great long rows to help control the surface winds and prevent soil erosion and dust storms. The Tribe called Developers leveled those great 90-year old rows of Cedars, Oaks, Pecan Trees, Black Walnuts, and Hackberry trees because they were in the way of Progress. The Tribe called Developers did not care that each of the 90 year old trees eliminated twenty-tons of particulate-matter from the air The People breathed and were a part of the oxygen and water cycle which sustains the life on the planet. It was, after all, just another thousand acres. The Tribe that called themselves Developers had slept through their Biology classes and did not learn about these important links in life’s chain. Mother Nature had not been to the ocean in a long time. It was a long walk and since The People came, the walk to the ocean became longer and longer. She was not sure that it was still there. Probably not, she thought; it had “things” living in it too. Or, at least it had when she was young. She didn’t see a snake, because all the people who had walked in the woods before her, and who had no regard for life or for the great help snakes were --- whether they are poisonous or not--- the Tribe called People had killed them all. Every single solitary one was gone. She didn’t see a bobcat, a fox, or a coyote, because the people who had moved into neighborhoods around the forest had either killed them all or had the Tribe called Animal Control, back when there was such a Tribe, pick them up and move them to zoos because that’s where The People thought they belonged. The People didn’t realize that they were the intruders who had moved into the animals’ home. The People liked the earth and grass and trees. It was different from the City with its wide streets, its concrete, bricks and buildings. But, things lived in the soil, in the grass, and in the trees. The People thought those things were disgusting. Mother Nature didn’t see a rabbit, squirrel, or opossum either. For that matter, she hadn’t heard a bird since oh, she couldn’t remember when. The people and the children who had air rifles had shot and killed everything that ran or moved in the forest. Because that is what most People do who live where they should be the guests and fail to recognize their place in the chain of life. Because everything in the forest depends on each other for survival, there was no one to provide food for anyone else in the forest. And the forest was quite. Dead quiet. Except for the mournful wail that she could hear ever so faintly. What was it? It couldn’t be human. There wasn’t much to see in the forest , now, that The People had either killed or moved all of the animals out of it. She looked and looked and finally she saw the forest elf who lived in the woods. He was as old as the oldest tree and he looked a great deal like a tree himself. He was sitting on an old log. His mouth was open and he was crying. Sappy stuff ran down his cheeks. Mother Nature walked over to him and patted him on the head. “Well,” she said, “it looks like it is just you and me. What seems to be the trouble, old friend?” “It’s all gone,” said the elf. “I think, even the People, too.” He didn’t say the last part. He only wailed the louder. “We still have the trees and the grass,” she said moving toward the log to sit down. She heard a crunch under her foot, the dry grass broke under her weight and a leaf fell to the ground. She sat down. A tear ran down her cheek. “Why are you crying,” asked the Elf. Mother Nature looked at the Elf, he was really old and feeble. “So am I “,she thought. And, she replied, “I am not crying; it’s the dust.” Both of her eyes were watery with tears. She looked off into the distance. All she could see outside the forest were the smoking piles of trees the Developers had cleared to make way for progress and parking lots and warehouses. No houses for the The People. All she could see were the burning trees, empty land and parking lots and warehouses. c. Mary Phinney
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:42:47 +0000