Last night as I was delivering Isaiah to the ballpark for flag football, I found that all the trees lining the middle of the parking lot had been chopped down. They were lying in tangled masses of branches and leaves, all of which were very green, just pushed to the center of the island, awaiting their fate in the chipper. Now, I know that three or four trees were obliterated in the tornado, but why chop down all the rest? There was a moment, when my heart leaped, tears stung my eyes, and I was hellbent on finding someone from the parks department who better have a reasonable explanation for such savagery. But, as quickly as that moment came, it vanished and I was lulled back into a state of complacency. So the question I have for myself, and all of you, is when did the passion we have disappear? Now, I am not talking about passion for our families, because that is a given, I am talking about passion for things and people, animals, and social change? I have a feeling that it is still there, lurking somewhere between diapers and dinner, but how do we go about revitalizing it? It needs to be done. We, as moms, dads, daughters, and sons need to be passionate about affairs other than our own. Stagnation is lost, and life reborn when passion reigns. So let go, allow your heart to skip, and face to redden, allow the pain to enter, and the tears to flow… allow yourself to feel, to really feel, and I guarantee things will start to change.
September 29, 2007 at 9:15 am
Super, super articulation – stirred up my passion about being passionate!
Passion, like love, is an emotion, or state of being, that is difficult to define, or describe. You did a good job. Both words have interesting etymologies.
Your last thought, for me, is at the core of passion – truth – and about our willingness to follow through on our truths, even if we stand alone.
In my previous working life, someone shared this quote with me:
Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm/passion . . .
It is the genius of sincerity, and truth accomplishes no victories without it!
September 29, 2007 at 9:34 am
HOLD the PRESSES: After all these years (since 1992, yep, I noted the date when I recorded the quote), I decided to see who said the words. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) English dramatist, novelist, & politician.
He also said:
“When people have no other tyrant, their own public opinion becomes one.”
He knew then that political correctness is evil!
October 2, 2007 at 1:42 am
Hi Amy – I stumbled along this post during my many hours of ‘blog surfing’
I happen to work for the parks department and was able to find out the answer as to why these ’seemingly’ healthy trees were removed. Based on your post, things just didn’t seem to jive as our department typically is very conscientous of tree saving, proper tree care and tree protection. We have a staff member that is very dedicated to the public property trees citywide. What I did find out is that all of the trees that were removed were Ash trees. All had been splintered, broken, or fractured in some way. In Iowa there is a very malicious ‘bug’ called Emerald Ash Borer that is taking the lives of all ash trees very, very quickly. It viciously attacks any ash tree that has been compromised in any way such as a crack, splinter or break. All of these trees would have succumbed to the Emerald Ash Borer in a very short time. The Rotary Club has very gerenously donated the funds to replace the trees that have been damaged. Hopefully, we will have many trees back in Kent Stein Park soon! Hope that clears up any confusion!! Any questions, please call our Department. Thanks!
October 2, 2007 at 2:49 am
thank you heather- did the trees actually have the bug, or was it just a probable conclusion?
October 2, 2007 at 3:02 am
inevitable and unavoidable–their life expectancy was less than a year…..unfortunately, Emerald Ash Borer is becoming a serious problem. We have a staff member that is very educated about it, much more so than I. But, if you are interested I could set you up with a DVD about it
October 3, 2007 at 1:43 am
the truth is, i find it extremely improbable that EVERY tree in Kent Stein was damaged. I understand the desire to have the park “looking” good, and having all the trees the same. Given the fact that the Rotary club donated the money, I understand the desire to replace them. Do you know what is being done with the wood? Bottom line is this; my post was about passion, and the desire I have to restore it. Glad to see that it has worked. and just so you know, the emerald ash borer has NOT been found in the state of Iowa. (www.emeraldashborer.info/map.cfm)
October 3, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I am totally with you about being passionate. We, as a society, have become too complacent when there are things that should spring us into action. I am so very guilty. But, there are a few things that I do feel passionate about and one of them is my job, my Department, my co-workers and the decisions we make on a daily basis to do what is best for our park system, our community and it’s citizens.
I had a lengthy conversation with our staff tree expert this morning who has been heavily involved with this project. and yes, my bad…it was not the emerald ash borer, but a native ash borer. (we recently offered an educational session on the emerald borer so I wrongfully assumed that it was the borer responsible–no it hasn’t hit iowa yet, but won’t be long–it moves about a mile per day and is in surrounding states.)(obviously, I should have attended the class
) Ash trees should no longer be planted because of the eminent threat.
From speaking with her this is what I understand….A little history here
These trees were in place over twenty years ago. They have grown very little over the last twenty years and although alive (somewhat), have failed to thrive. They are not healthy trees and the soil condition has deteriorated over the years which was a contributing factor to their demise. Currently, because of the level of the paking lot overlay, water drains into, rather than away from the tree beds (run-off containing oils, other chemicals, etc.) This is detrimental to their health also.
After the storms, every tree in the park had been extensively examined by our tree expert and turf specialist. Every tree had either a fracture, a break or was unstructurely sound due to the ash borers (majority were damaged). The borers had been present and eating away at the trees before the storm damage, and they would have really been able to quickly destroy any damaged trees. Even the ones that didn’t physically appear to be damaged were structurely unsound internally because of the borers and in a public facility parking lot that can be somewhat dangerous. Likely, within a year, all would have been dead or considered unsafe for a public area. We have to think too about liability. If Grandma shows up for a ball game, gets out of her car and a large tree limb from an unsound tree trees falls on her head, we could potentially have a bigger problem.
So with all of these factors taken into consideration, the following action was taken: trees thoroughly examined, none found to be in a good/proper state, trees have been removed (not sure what will happen with them–I forgot to ask), Rotary has agreed to replace the trees, the soil will be amended to provide proper nutrition to the new trees, and the beds will be raised so that the parking lot run-off does not affect the health of the trees. A lot of time, expertise and thought was put into this and it was not a random decision. Aesthetics was not the driving force behind this but the health and livlihood of the trees and parking lot safety was most important. The new trees are of a type suitable to the conditions and with the proper soil amendments, bed height they should do very well there and last for many,many years to come.
Wow, I learned a lot from your inquiry! Thanks for prompting to do a little research on this. Hopefully, that answers some of your questions and I hope you understand that we try very hard to do what is best and we all love trees as much as anyone
And, in the future, if you do see something in our parks that you have questions about please do not hesitate to call us! We take citizen inquiries very seriously and will do whatever we can to find answers for you!
Thanks for your PASSION!!!!
October 3, 2007 at 11:27 pm
thank you again heather… there are many things you can do to prevent the ash borers from attacking your trees, if indeed there are any left in public areas in Muscatine. I appreciate your persistance and love for your job and co-workers. What kind of trees are being planted?
October 4, 2007 at 7:52 am
Yes, there are many things–although nothing being fool-proof. Everything takes funding and/or man-power–both resources which are severely lacking. We do the best we can given the limitations we have.
An assortment of trees will be planted– I believe 40 have been ordered to date, not sure which particular species. That is about all the information I have regarding this project. Any further questions may be directed to our Groundskeeper (Kathy)–263-5464(w).
Thanks for caring!
October 4, 2007 at 7:58 am
okay, now i am confused, you have the man power to take out the trees, dispose of them, order new trees, make soil amendments, build up the beds, and plant the trees, but don’t have the man power to use preventative measures?
I think it is time for me to let this one go…
October 4, 2007 at 8:17 am
when situations like this occur, staff has to prioritize their duties and every hour spent on the trees is an hour away from something else. what a vicious cycle that can create. when a funding source becomes available such as the rotary’s generous donation then it will take precedence over less pressing tasks….yes, probably a good time to end this one.