Day 216: 245 Words About Trees

The malaise is real, my friends. I’m on day 6 of my work week and my brain is complete mush. To be fair, my brain was mush on day 1, but it’s also mush today. So you know what that means. A co-worker has selected that I write 245 words about trees. Seems pretty easy, but also quite difficult. Here goes something. Or nothing. Probably something.

The weird thing about being a New Yorker is how frequently you ignore trees. Unless it’s in a park, I’m finding it hard to even close my eyes and visualize a nearby tree. Like, I know they exist. But I couldn’t tell you if there’s any trees on my block. You could show me a photo of my block with and without trees and I would not be able to tell you which one is doctored. I just had to walk outside the store to see if there were any trees in sight. There were a few. I’ve been walking down this block for 11 years and I didn’t know that. I simply don’t acknowledge trees anymore.

I think it has something to do with competition. When there’s trees in a small town or countryside, they take precedence because they’re usually the biggest things in sight. Whereas is a big and filthy city, a little ass tree is getting no attention when it’s in front of a building that’s 20 times taller. It’s no contest.

And it’s not the tree’s fault. It’s simply the limits of our perception. It should also be noted that New York is littered with baby trees. The city just got on the tree bandwagon in the 90s, it’s going to take a whole lot longer for the trees to grow. Maybe if the city doesn’t burn down, our grandchildren will notice the trees. But for now, they’re too small to garner attention.

– TeeCoZee