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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 13, 2004 Speaking for the alder By Alan Sasha Lithman Ashland On Tuesday, Nov. 2, all eyes were on Florida and Ohio and larger matters of State. So Ashlanders may have missed a smaller but no less portentous event that day. As I approached Church Street driving down North Main towards the Plaza, something was profoundly missing. Looking up, I could see a naked space of sky that was not there before. Below, the ominous presence of a bucket truck and the metallic buzz of a chainsaw filled the void where a majestic alder tree once stood like an old friend welcoming us to our town. Instinctively I pulled over, shocked and disoriented by a reality that left Ashland in that moment out of joint, another thread uprooted from the natural fabric that weaves together our unique sense of place. I walked across the street in a confusion of disbelief, grief and anger. I knew this cut was coming. But I did not know when. I had attended the city council meetings earlier this year, joining with other community members in a humble attempt to save the tree. But we were no match for the commerce-driven logic of planners and developers armed with high-powered lawyers. For them, the issue was simply a matter of compliance with narrow city codes and ordinances. Core values that enrich and give meaning to our lives but which cannot be supported by such codes were dismissed as sentimental concerns that have no locus standi. So now the deed is done, the alder gone and nothing to stand in the way of another upscale multi-use commercial building to enhance our downtown's competitive ambiance. I stood there on the sidewalk, a mourner numbed as I watched the loggers neatly stack the limbs of the once broad-branching tree. How ironic, I thought, that the alder's trunk will now be turned into a totem pole to honor the local Takilma Indians. How does one honor a native culture that holds such trees sacred by axing the living tree and then carving it into a totem pole? What a strange trade-off, it seemed, looking at things through the perspective of a larger economy which factors in whole-system values rather than reducing the matter to the mesmerism of profit margins as its sole measure for success. I mean, does the earth or Oregon or this downtown really need another restaurant/ office/retail space combo more than a shade-producing, air-filtering, oxygen-creating, bird-chirping, creekbank-stabilizing, peace-bringing, noise-insulating, wildlife-nesting wonder that greets us at the entry to our town, greens us in summer and sets us alight in fall? Much befell us this Nov. 2. For many of us, the outcomes did not correspond to our hopes and choices. But we can still choose how we respond to these outcomes. There's not much I can do about Florida or Ohio. But I can do something about this place and this moment in which I live. And while I can't bring back the alder, I can see that it doesn't die in me. I can remember the sadness and acknowledge the shame I felt in what we did and what we didn't do; letting the pain transform into a creative force that carries us past our passivity, hesitations and fears to make a difference; letting that seed-memory motivate, inspire and empower me to seize the next moment, call the bluff of our powerlessness and inaction, intervene when a friend or a stranger is being abused, stand for what one stands for despite the intimidations within and without that would silence us. This is how I can honor the sacrifice of that tree. And if we plant a thousand alder seeds inside ourselves, no telling what community we may still grow and become. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Isotoner Slippers Dsw Shoes Ceramic Piggy Banks Fanny Mae Eloans Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weight Loss Programs Citibank Student Loans Acs Loan Matchmaking & Dating Scripts Adventure Travel Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation helzberg diamonds Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams