The massive shredding chainsaw, monstrous trucks, industrial death claw, and masculine grumbles and cackles could be heard from 2 blocks down. It’s sorta like salon day when my daughter & I attend our bi-annual cut & style hair appointments, but a lot louder, way more gets cut, & it’s definitely not as pretty. Every spring the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, Bureau of Forestry crew winds their way up and down the city’s blocks chopping & grinding parts of roughly 500,000 trees in the public way. I’ll be honest, this day used to upset me quite a bit.
One of our most cherished family members is the majestic maple that lives in front of our house. It’s massive. When my daughter was born we installed a swing attached to a long rope that hung from one of the maple’s huge limbs. Since the 1st time she swung in that swing it’s been hard to get her out of it. As she grew, and got older, we got different kinds of swings. Sometimes now we swap in a circular disk for up to 3 kids to ride on at once, or the lounge chair swing that’s woven out of thick soft rope, or the long loop of stretchy fabric that can be reinvented into many different ways for various types of swinging acrobatics. We are happy to share our tree and swings with anyone who walks past, and at this point, most of the kids in our neighborhood have tried out each swing as well. While everyone was in quarantine and the parks were closed, when kids and parents got outside to take their daily walk our tree swing was a very popular destination.
About a year before quarantine though there was a horrible storm that blew through our neighborhood and hit us really hard. Many trees in our neighborhood got destroyed completely and our maple actually was damaged quite a bit. A large portion of it blew down with a gust of wind and landed on my car. The only part of the tree that remained intact was the section connected to the branch that the swing hung from. My daughter was beyond relieved to see that her spot was still intact.
After the storm the Streets and Sanitation, Bureau of Forestry people made their rounds and picked up the gigantic branches that blocked many of the streets, and while they did that they also assessed the trees that were still standing discussing which they would be chopping down. When they made their way to our maple I went outside and tried to eavesdrop to see what they were planning. I couldn’t wait. I told them they couldn't cut our tree. I would never let them.
One of the dudes took me over to the broken tree parts in the street, and he showed me the ants that were pouring out of one of the branches. He explained that many of the big old trees were unfortunately diseased and the ants come from the ground and go up into the trunks. The diseased trees are easy for the ants to take over and they hollow out the inside of the trunks and branches so the trees become frail. When the storms come through, the trees suffering from disease and filled with ants break easily in the wind, and the large branches fall on our cars and houses until eventually there’s no more of the tree left.
This is why they cut the trees down. For every tree they cut down, they plant a new one, and they even give us homeowners the opportunity to pick which species of new tree we want them to plant in place of the old ones. All I could say was, “Oh.” Fine. Maybe the city guys do know a thing or 2 about trees, and I guess they weren’t just nature hating jerks who cut down our beautiful trees for no reason. Then it dawned on me. Oh no… what if our maple was infected with disease and being eaten from the inside out by millions of ants!
Since that conversation with the city dude 3 years ago, this has been on my mind. While they were still bare this spring I couldn’t help but notice all the damaged branches on the trees in our neighborhood, and I even started becoming a little obsessed. I’d go on walks to scope out trees with grotesque fungus or jagged torn off limbs. I’d stop, stare, study, get sad. There’s nothing I could do to fix their problems. All these beautiful peaceful majestic beings that seemed so strong… they are all slowly dying just like the rest of the planet that us stupid humans continue to ruin. I’m pretty sure trees can’t feel emotions like humans do, but either way I just wanted them to know how much I appreciated them.
Their war wounds may be tragic, but they wear them with pride and withstand the brutal forces of weather season after season. All the stressed out broken parts of trees have stories of pain and suffering attached, but they never give up and just fall over. Instead, right before our eyes trees continue to use all of their energy to repair themselves, no matter how old or tired they may be. Some make it, some don’t, but without a doubt they stand tall with strength until the very end. Inspirational, to say the least.
So this year, I am happy to say that when the city guys came around with their saws, they passed by our maple tree without contemplation. She seems to be hearty & flourishing even after all the damage. Maybe the 1 strong limb that made it through the storm 3 years ago held on because she didn’t want to let go of the swing. Maybe she hears the laughter and sees the smiles on the kids' faces when they visit. Just maybe she feels how much she is appreciated.
Well, we really hope so.
