Clean Earth to Till

The Emerald Ash Borer is decimating the North American ash tree population.  In three more years they could all be gone -- brought down by a brilliantly green colored beetle less than a third of an inch long.  I'm not a scientific person and I usually miss volumes of information, but this species of tree is part of my history.

Lakefront property upon which I grew up was graced by an ancient ash that bordered the front lawn.  Two adults could link hands around the trunk that neighbors declared to be over a hundred years old.  That was "once upon a time" vocabulary to my small self, as a hundred years was basically infinity.  One autumn a hurricane spawned storms that resulted in a limb breaking off.  As thick as most mature trees, it damaged the roof of our house, cracked a cement wall and flattened a fence on its journey to the ground.  It was a mighty giant.  And this week I heard from my scientist friend a little pest from Asia is able to tear through the bark and stop the nutrient supply -- killing millions.

Again, cerebral things of science don't usually stick around in my thoughts.  But this one reverberated because the introduction of the Emerald Ash Borer happened inadvertently through shipping materials.  That strikes a deeper chord.  With all the harm intentionally done by humans in our selfish pursuits, we can wreak devastation accidentally as well.  I'm too insignificant in the environmental power game to do more than recycle and turn off the water when I'm brushing my teeth, but there are many areas of life in which I cause havoc.  Just this week I practiced some hurtful angry words that I fantasized I'd have the courage to say.  Practiced them!  Thankfully, the ugliness that came out of my mouth appalled and shamed me.  But there were plenty of other opportunities in which I chose to speak aloud the selfishness of my heart -- and human beings were hurt.  I pursued my agenda with disregard for the impact on others; I believed and acted as if my comfort and convenience were of supreme importance.

When I think of that beetle, that beautiful killer, I want to remember that I will do much unintentional harm.  Surely I should seek to battle it wherever the risk of damage is even suspected.  As J.R.R. Tolkien charged, there is work to be done in the fields I know.

"It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."