A Tree in the Road

A Tree in the Road

This morning around eight o’clock, my old dog Jake and I went out for our morning “constitutional” which normal consists of a walk along Kahns Road and some of the other streets in our neighborhood. The area we live in was covered in trees just a few years ago and there are still many in the neighborhood. As you might imagine, these trees die off and some are cut down while other simply fall over. The latter was the case this morning. Sometime early this morning or late last night, a dead pine tree fell onto Kahns Road. While it did not completely block the road, it did deposit a lot of debris in the roadway. Apparently several cars had driven past and some had even crushed some of the debris, but none of it had been removed from the roadway. Rather than leave this mess in the road, I picked up a branch and began to sweep the debris to the side of the road. Meanwhile, the rain was pouring down and Jake and I were getting soaked. Perhaps as many as six or eight cars drove by us and through the debris, but not one person stopped to inquire if they could help. Apparently it was easier to ignore the whole thing and let an old man and his dog do the job.

Our neighborhood is not a large one—perhaps a 100 homes in all. Many of us have lived her for 20 or more years and informally know each other although we don’t often socialize. Everyone is busy—many of the families here are two income families and so most of our neighbors are gone during the day and hunker down on the weekends. There are some new folks who moved into homes that were built just five years ago and they don’t seem to be interested in getting to know any of us who have lived here for many years. We don’t have a homeowners’ association and many of us live here because we don’t have one. However, this does have its drawbacks. People leave trash in their yards and it is rare when someone stops to pick up trash that others have thrown out along the roadside.

I realize this is a long way from making my point and that is this. People are all so busy today that they no longer have time to stop an just inquire if they can help someone doing a task that benefits the neighborhood. It is easier to ignore the problem and drive around it. A “It’s not my job” attitude has crept into our lives and made us less than nice neighbors.

I’ll keep doing the things I do, that’s just my nature, but I would also welcome help.