Boys to Men

So few people pay attention to trees because, well, they are the strong silent types. If you never have cut them down or even have sat and marveled about them, they don’t become part of a person’s consciousness until they fall. Our storm has made a few folks take notice for sure.
Although cutting down trees looks easy, it is one of the most dangerous of activities. The seasoned (pun intended) lumberjack takes a long look at the tree… how it is leaning, its weight and height, and flaws that might cause it to crack prematurely. These are very important variables to study. Lumberjacks deal with gravity, as often as, skydivers!
I don’t think I’ll ever relax when I watch a tree being cut down but it is an exciting event, none the less. It is an endeavor that can claim or maim a novice in the same way catching rattlesnakes can. If you live long enough , maybe, what you know can keep you from harm.
In general, men are a foolhardy bunch. Just watch the TV shows devoted to fatal accidents and see how many women are involved for that statistic. There’s nothing like the cutting down of a tree to bring all the “boys” out for fun. You can almost smell the testosterone.
I must admit the element of danger arouses my interest too but I’m around several men who KNOW what they are doing and it is inspiring to watch. Being a “country mouse” gives me great pride. Real men can watch their kids AND cut down trees, in my opinion. There’s a pervasive attitude about “education” and “degrees” in our country that overlooks the intelligence of life experience. No wonder manhood has become so blurred when the “city boys” have so few survival skills beyond gang activity. I’d like them all to have a stint in the country to see what “real” men do. In fact, I buy flowers every Spring from a school for troubled kids. It is a working farm and greenhouse that introduces city kids to hard work and getting their hands dirty. They seem to prosper under those conditions.
So, when I see an “educated” blowhard looking down his nose at a common man, it makes me want to ask him to build a house, run a backhoe or cut down a tree. HA!

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Tree Cutters