Another devastating news story rocks my heart.
I’m a pretty understanding person.
I can empathise with most things. I can see others’ pain. I can feel compassion for perpetrators of some of the worst things whilst still condemning their actions.
Yesterday I wrote of my despair at the treatment of young people with autism and other intellectual disabilities; even while I’m disgusted and feel such pain for the victims, I can comprehend how those staff members know no better — people really are that ignorant and swallow whole the things they are taught by superiors.
But today I read of someone cutting down an iconic tree.
To me it’s not just a tree. It’s not just vandalism. It’s a statement of the highest, most selfish order and I cannot even begin to empathise with such a deliberate act of devastation.
Even more than soldiers in a war following orders, pre-programmed to dehumanise the ‘enemy’, to protect their own.
This tree is magnificent just as it is standing there visible for long distances, the only one. For me it symbolises striving against all odds and standing proud. But it was also featured in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and when I visited it it felt like some kind of pilgrimage, it truly was a moment as I…
