What development has done to my kind

It was once a happy and peaceful life for us in Muskoka. We used to sway in the breeze, feel the sun’s warm rays, taste the cool soil’s moisture, smell the clean, pristine air around us and hear the birds singing their songs in our branches.

The rain bathed us and the snow protected us through the long winters. Creatures who made us their homes, or who were simply passing through, tickled our branches and we could see the ones we loved most around us all the time.

All this abruptly ceased when the town of Bracebridge began to think of its financial gain more than the beautiful scenery that attracts so many tourists and has gained Muskoka its popularity, not to mention the increase in revenue and sales made during the tourist season. Why, may I ask, would the town have been so inconsiderate of our existence and the part we play in the very thing visitors come to experience?

This horrendous treatment of my kind started when the town decided to go through with its plans to develop “for the better.” I was sitting there listening to the natural sounds of the earth and my comrades’ soft sweet voices, when men with a large mechanical beast called a clear-cutter, came to begin the murderous work.

It was like a scene from my worst nightmares as it began to advance with execution in its heart as it began to slaughter my family and friends right before my very eyes. The only sound I could remember was my family’s dying screams, nearly drowned out by the grinding sound of the saw as it met wood.

Just when I thought the madness would never cease and all was lost, they stopped. When the sawdust settled, I realized that I was the only one of my kind left standing. Our home and all of those lives had been erased. As I bent down to pick up the mangled remains of those lost, I began to weep like I had never wept before.

I was immensely sadden­ed and devastated. As the weeks wore on, my sadness and depression grew ever larger as I watched my former home being defaced before my very eyes. These humans didn’t start what they called construction, but I call reckless defacing, for a while. I later discovered they had destroyed yet another forest nearby, blown up the rock where it stood, put it in big trucks and drove the rock across the road to where my friends and family once got their precious life force and drinks of precious water.

When they arrived, these humans started to pour disgusting, putrid concrete to construct what they called a smartcentre. No one lives there, not human or beast. A few trees were planted. They looked lonely there and quite out of place. It seemed that, environmentally speaking, no good has come from it. The things bought in that store can be bought elsewhere in Bracebridge. It doesn’t seem smart at all.

The whispers in the air told me that this was just the beginning. God help us all.

I always understood that people visit Bracebridge to get away from the cities and enjoy a slower pace in its natural beauty. From what I saw, there was neither beauty nor peace present in this new construction. Humans zoomed around with a bunch of stuff and I seldom saw a smile coming from them.

As a car left one day I heard music coming from it, so I listened. The words to the song said, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Hearing those words told me that one or more humans see the senseless nature of this kind of progress like I do. If only more would.

As these humans started to construct their homage to whatever it pays homage to, I began to wither and could feel my life force starting to drain from my body. I guess the depression I felt was taking its toll on my life. It took many weeks for this torture to fully take my life, but before I died I wanted to see the end of what was started.

They put a Wal-Mart where a beautiful forest had once lived and thrived. It was a community and had a right to continue. Many lives were taken. I wonder why there were no laws to protect us. We were important in many ways. Why, we even cleaned the air from their stinky cars and buildings, every night. We were happy to help and never complained.

I am afraid that this testimonial is the only thing that I have ever written and will ever write. It is profound that it is printed on the remains of my kind. I hope that sometime in the future this will all have changed and that once again trees will thrive and inhabit most of the earth.

Goodbye forever.

J.E. Twiggyton

Bracebridge

(By Willow Hillman, speaking on behalf of the millions of trees around the world that cannot speak for themselves.)