Last month, when I returned home from my fishing trip, I noticed something was missing from my neighborhood.
I couldn’t put a finger on it at first, and it wasn’t until the afternoon sun came streaming in the front window of my apartment that it dawned on me- the tree that used to sit in front of 400 West Main Street was gone! Where three trees once stood, there were now only two.
Vanished! Just like that. No note. No forwarding address. It just disappeared.
Who would take a tree? Or did the tree leave on its own? Was it unhappy on the corner of Maple and Main Street? Did it not get enough sun, or enough water?
Perhaps it was tired of being downtown so it uprooted itself and walked down to Bethesda Park to nestle quietly by the Fox River.
Or not.
Who knows? All I can tell you for sure is that we are short one tree on the 400 block of Main Street and we need answers.
And that’s where the flyer came in. But since its inception, the flyer has produced no calls and no leads. Looks like the neighbors are remaining pretty tight lipped about it.
Perhaps the tree was a victim of a mob hit and everyone is too scared to come forward with information regarding its whereabouts.
Or maybe it was cut down by the city of Waukesha because it was sick.
Regardless, it is a sad sight to see.
Nearly two months have gone by and we are left with nothing more than a lonely stump in the ground as a grim reminder of a beautiful tree that once graced the street; its leaves rustling in the summer breeze, a home to many a playful squirrel.
Then, just yesterday while out walking the dog, I noticed something had sprouted up from where the tree once stood.
I rushed to see, and was delighted with what I discovered! A little white flag has been placed by the stump, and on this flag is a request for a tree to be placed in the area where the other tree once stood!
Outstanding!
I am very pleased that we are getting a new tree, not only because it will look nice, but from what I have been told, it is bad Feng Shui to have a dead tree stump in front of your business. It doesn’t promote good Chi.
Trust me on that one.
And as I celebrated the soon-to-be new tree with excitement, it suddenly occurred to me that I needed to get my hands on some of these little white flags!
Imagine what one could do for the environment if he had, say, twenty of these flags. Or thirty! Or a thousand.
If getting new trees planted in this world is as easy a placing a little white flag where you want one, then preserving the environment is going to be way easier than those guys at Greenpeace have been making it out to be.
I thought we could start here. I figure I’ll need about 20,000 flags.
