A Story About A Forest

Once upon a time there was a gorgeous, lush forest that teemed with life and vibrance. The forest was protected by highly official documents, laws and legislation, unharm-able, loved and nurtured by all who lived by it. Baby squirrels played and chased each other up and down majestic trunks from dawn to dusk. Nestled in great roots were settlements of mushroom villages and fat bugs of all shapes, sizes and colours wove in between the little umbrellas. Food was abundant, air was clean and sweet and seldom was there a crash that told of a fallen giant. When there was, new saplings rose up tall, growing strong upon the wisdom of the old bark beneath their roots.

Then one day in early spring, a butterfly floated into the forest.

The butterfly laid eggs, tiny caterpillars hatched and began to munch the leaves.

Nearby, a human was watching, and waiting for the right opportunity…

Nobody knew the ghastly Selfish Secret Ambition that the human held, and that this ambition would eventually lead to the desecration and destruction of this untouchable paradise - all in a cleverly manipulated way that appeared to make perfect sense. Nobody knew. Yet.

This human whispered in some ears, and the ball began to roll…. nobody quite knew who was making the decisions, only that one decision seemed to lead to another. Nobody knew that decisions were motivated by the Selfish Secret Ambition.

And before anybody knew what was happening, it had been decided that this random, unsuspecting caterpillar was threatening the entire forest. The trees themselves had no say - they could not speak up for themselves, they could not say, “We have seen this caterpillar before! Leave it be. It will run its course and be gone by next season, some of us may fall, but these were sick anyway and unable to clean the air like we used to. Only leave us be, and the caterpillar will go…”

Nobody spoke up for the trees.

Nobody spoke up for the forest.

The voices that did were silenced, scorned and removed.

So a “Caterpillar Threat” was accepted by those who listened to the whispers, and they discussed what to do now.

“I think that cutting down trees to thin them out is the best. This way, the caterpillar cannot spread to the other trees. And we can cover the remaining trees with nets.”

This made no sense.

The trees tried to explain: “We have our ways. We make a special oil, and this repels the worm from us. The ones among us who cannot make it anymore, who are old - they know their time is short, and they will fall to make way for new and healthy trees. Leave us to our ways - our trunks and roots know what to do!”

But reason was not listened to.

Only the whispers sprung from the Selfish Secret Ambition prevailed.

So the action was accepted, and the tree cutters moved into the forest. Within an impossibly short time, the forest was unrecognisable. Silent and terrified, all of the creatures huddled in their homes, hoping that their tree would not be felled. Great roads were cut and the earth was shorn in enormous swathes.

There began a migration of birds and animals, some saw the devastation and refused to accept the tragedy. Others stayed and were sealed within dark nets. The trees that still stood were prodded and cut as they were checked for signs of any caterpillar

The trees wilted early and lost heart through that summer. Their great trunks could not expel moisture into the air, and became stagnant. Leaves could not unfurl. Without airflow, they were stifled - the trees could not grow, could not produce the protective oil, were laid bare to all the danger that could possibly harm them.

Without defence, without the fresh air and comradeship that sustained them, without the capacity to grow and become strong and do the job they loved to do, the summer wore on and became hot. The sun baked the raw shorn earth.

The trees began to grow weak, trunks brittle, leaves fragile…

Some trees decided to die. Others were taken by the caterpillar, helpless to defend themselves. Without the dense forest around them, and root systems that shared their information, they were unable to talk to the other trees to work out what helped, and to find the remedy together.

The forest was a forest no longer. Roads marred rows of cloyingly netted trees. Leaves did not rustle, nothing played, the air was dead.

But the Selfish Secret Ambition had not accomplished its full task.

Decisions still needed to be made.

The idea was hatched that the remaining trees could be implanted with the instructions on how to make a protective oil. The idea was to change the tree’s own instructions, which were said to be not working, and replace them with ones that the whispers said would work.

“How can we tell a tree how to do its work?” asked some. These voices disappeared.

“How can we profit from this?” said others. These voices became bold.

And before the trees knew it, great bores were drilling into their trunks and removing parts of their fabric to be replaced with - well - nobody knew. Some were making money from this idea, others kept quiet and simply did the drilling.

Still others tried to help the trees, showing them how to stay strong, removing the netting, feeding their roots with healthy food to keep the caterpillars away.

But the Selfish Secret Ambition certainly did not wish for the trees to be helped. Oh no. That could not happen. The secret plan was working nicely, and the do-gooders were but a small menace. But to be sure that the do-gooders did not do too much of a good job, whispers began that made sure no news of the trees that were being helped - and that stayed healthy - reached any other ears.

But many of the trees talked. They knew. Many of them felt the pain of the netting, felt the absence of their creatures, mourned the loss of their neighbouring friends with deep grief. Many of them lost hope, felt heartsick…. What could they do?

So the word was spread that the plan was working to implant the trees with the fake oil, and work continued. Weeks came and went, and when questions were asked, answers were quickly thought up to satisfy.

But nobody who profited checked if it was a good idea to rip out parts of the trees, and replace those parts - forever - with nobody-knew-what. What was going into the trees? And how did anyone think that this solution would do a better job than the trees were doing themselves?

And what happened if there was another bug next year?

Would more of the trees be cut out and replaced?

Those who asked these questions disappeared.

Those who were willing to proceed with implanting the trees with who-knew-what moved forward.

Soon, there only stood in the wilting forest a few lone trees that were healthy. These trees were surrounded by those who stood up for them, who found good herbs and remedies to keep the caterpillar at bay. Un-netted and standing fiercely tall and strong, those who stood for these few trees refused access by the army of the human with the Selfish Secret Ambition.

“You may not have this one.”

The drillers moved on, leaving but a tiny remnant of natural trees. These trees knew that they were the hope for the future. With broken hearts and heavy boughs, only their strong spirits carried them through the continued nightmare, their focus upon producing seeds that would carry their hope for the future…

For this was a nightmare, and the healthy trees knew they faced extinction.

The trees remained netted. Their friends had been cut down, never to return.

For what?

But as the winter and following summer progressed the nightmare got worse. The trees bearing the nobody-knew-what parts began to ail. One by one, they shed their bark. They became helpless to defend themselves from anything at all. The smallest most insignificant fungus became a raging menace that ate into roots unchecked and cut off all food supply. Leaves turned black and mouldy. And the trees lost their ability to breathe…

The air became fetid with the thick odour of rotting trunks, disease-ridden bark, the sound of deadwood falling as boughs died and broke off. The healthy trees could not fight the onslaught of rampant diseases, made extra strong because the dying trees had lent the parasites strength.

All of the trees were sick, many were dying. The whispers began again…. The best thing to do is to eradicate the forest so that this sickness would not spread, they said.

Without any voices to stop the whispers this time, every tree was felled and carried off as rotten wood.

*

Not long ago, there was a verdant, lush forest. An ecosystem that thrived under protective boards and legislation, endangered species nurtured within.

Now, there was bare ground.

And the Selfish Secret Ambition stepped out, bravely now because all of the voices that disagreed had been removed. All of the obstacles, the arguments of reason, the advocates of what was right had been removed too.

There was nothing left to protect.

Said the Selfish Human with a Secret Ambition: “I will buy this land and put up my own development. This tragedy can be turned into something good, and I will do that. I will make housing, and everyone who lives there can pay me rent to thank me.”

Across the river and down the other side of the mountain, there was a gorgeously luxuriant forest….