Timothy Lawton

Barack was elected for our sins. He was sent by God and descended from the heavens. Obama was born to struggling circumstances from which he bounded to become the Savior of mankind. With him we have found new power. With him we now know we can. With him there are no limits to the potential of mankind.

No man in history has accomplished what our new Messiah has. He is hope, he is truth, he is compassion. His voice resounds with strength and confidence when he reads from a teleprompter. His words feed the soul when his speeches are prepared. He will provide food for the hungry, funds for the bankrupt, and his health care program will heal the sick. He will disarm our enemies with a smile. He will turn hearts of hate into hearts of love. His middle name will destroy the antipathy of the radical muslim world.

Where has he been? Why didn’t he come sooner? How much suffering could have been avoided if only he had come long ago? Why wasn’t he in the Garden of Eden? He could have convinced the snake that he was wrong. After all he is the Obama. He is the one that causes our hearts to beat. He is the one that makes the tides churn and the Sun rise. He is our beauty, our life, our god!!!

Today, in one of my classes, I finally had it. While I was teaching at least three students (and that’s out of eight) were on their cell phones either texting or looking at messages. In truth this is really not unusual, but for some reason it struck a chord with me. I snapped into a tirade about why I hate cell phones. To anyone who knows me this is no surprise. Yet, the succinctness of my reasoning caught my own attention. This was not a planned, or well thought out, diatrabe on the evils of cell phones, but a gutteral reaction.

Leaving behind all the ecological reasons for hating cell phones I centered in on the sociological reasons that I detest these pieces of technology. Yes, they have their purposes, but their distractions, over use, potential to give an entire generation carpal tunal syndrome, diminishment of social skills and the general rules of courtesy far out weigh any good that comes from them. Simply put cell phones cause those who use them to never be where they are. Much like Luke Skywalker being scolded by Yoda for always thinking about the future this hand held technology causes people to never really be able to live in the moment.

When I asked my students what they were texting about all three said that they were making plans for the weekend. It was bad enough that they weren’t listening to my lesson (and awesome it was), but this translates to all social situations as well. I pointed out to them that when they are actually hanging out with their friends this weekend that at that time they would be so attatched to these gadgets that they would then be missing out on what was going on around them at that time. This does not only apply to our youth, but also to the adults in our culture. How many times are we at parties, social engagements, meetings, or any other function and someone’s phone goes off? Or, they are sitting eyes fixated on their dopey little screen trying to discern whatever inanity that may currently be presenting itself. How many times are conversations cut short, forgotten, or interrupted because someone sent some meaningless transmission via the cell phone?

Do those who own these contraptions ever get a moments peace? Is there ever a time when they actually look out onto the world undisturbed? Can they ever enjoy nature, or other people, when they have these things on them? The contented feeling I have of not owning a cell phone is reinforced every time I hear a “ring tone” shouting out that more useless information is being conveyed by invisible light waves through our atmosphere. Mankind had survived without these monstrosities for over 5 millenia don’t tell me we “need” them now!!

PS  Just as I was closing this blog I received a phone call from a cell phone. Ironically I sat there repeating hello about a dozen times getting occasional sounds from my landline, but to no avail. Finally I hung up and waited for the inevitable call back. Shortly there after the phone rang again and I was treated to the now infamous line, “Can yo hear me?” a number of times. This reminded me of the countless dropped calls where I have either droned on for a while into a dead phone unbenounced to myself or have been cut off at the most important part of a phone call whether it be a political debate or a significant matter. All these technical problems considered and I still have to mention the constant missed word or phrase and the general choppieness and background noise that comes with cell phones. Alexander Grahm Bell would probably be impressed with the cell phone’s portability, but distressed with it’s massive steps backward in quality. All in all I’m glad I don’t own one and hope I never do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cloud seeding disrupts the natural flow of the eco-system. It may benefit a particular area, but its detriments are a plethora. Artificially causing moisture to fall in one region inevitably causes less precipitation to fall in a locality in which it should have fallen. This causes changes that ripple through the global climate in which we have no ability to predict the outcomes of our actions. How can we justify altering the weather patterns when we have no potential to assess what the long term effects of our actions will be? Therefore it is imperative that we allow the weather to take its course and we simply respond to its results. Doing anything else is playing with nature in a manner in which we cannot anticipate the outcomes of our artificial manipulations.

During this sweltering heatwave I have had the misfortune of running into the local electric company butchering trees. As usual they were doing an “over zealous” job. Exactly the type of job that has been done on trees that I have planted. This is not only upsetting on a personal basis, but it is especially irritating when we are in the midst of trying to “reduce our carbon footprint”. Many of these same companies support the cap and trade bill which will do NOTHING to reduce our emissions of CO2, yet they continue to hack any branch that comes within 6 feet of there precious powerlines. How many square miles of vegetation in our country, and around the world, are sacrificed to their inability to realize that they don’t have to clear so much away from the trees in order to preserve power to their customers. In fact they are actually damaging the trees to the point that they are making them MORE likely to fall.

I have had around 20 years working with trees and almost four decades of observing them. My Great Grandfather, whom I knew for the first five years of my life, was not only an avid lover of trees but planted many of the trees in the town in which I grew up. Many of his trees towered well above the wires that they grew around. Some even came within inches of the powerlines, but they never caused problems. This was largely due to the fact that he had his trees manicured instead of  hacked. The power companies of today usually contract their work out to people who have no knowledge of how to cut a tree. So, the end result is short, stubby, unhealthy trees which actually have a greater chance of causing damage to the very infrastructure that they are trying to protect.

I hate power outages and understand that we need to shape our trees to meet the needs of the whole community, but they can also be healthier and more stable. All it will take is a little education to those who are cutting our trees. We can have beautiful and safe trees that are not mowed down below the wire line. The trees that I planted that were hacked have had to be cut again about three times in seven years, This is not a good use of our resources. It is also not a good manner in which to maintain our land. Not only do they overcut trees they make more work for themselves during the process. They also cut at the worst times of year. Trees should be cut from late fall through early spring (unless circumstances dictate). Taking away branches in the summer only serves to take precious nutrients and energy from our trees making them sickly and weak.

We need to do a better job maintaining trees around powerlines. This can improve the quality of our air and the beauty of our neighborhoods. Accomplishing this goal can be cost saving as well. Less work and better timing can yield amazing results. I have seen it with my own eyes. So, whatever your reason join me in the fight to better manage the trees that surround us. I simply like trees, what about you?

None of the accounts, descriptions, or commentary of this day can be reposted without the express written consent of Timothy Lawton:

On a lovely late July day my parents and I set off in the morning heading for Weehawken, New Jersey. Our initial destination was the Yankee Clipper. Our ultimate destination was the new Yankee Stadium. We had hopes of a wonderful day skirting the skyline of Manhattan and taking in a Yankee game. We also had hopes of a Yankee victory that would inch them one game further in the quest for a coveted playoff spot come October. We got both.

As we traversed the waterways surrounding New York City we not only took in scenes of the major landmarks and bridges, but we pondered what our first trip to the new stadium would bring. All three of us had never been to the new stadium and the old ballpark held a lot of good memories. I was particularly concerned if it would have the same mystique that the likes of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Derek Jeter, and 26 World Series victories had brought to the original stadium. I think it is safe to say that none of us were disappointed.

Only the future will tell if the Yankees can make the new stadium as historic as the old, but the aura of the franchise seems to have moved accross the street with the team. The new Yankee Stadium is a beautiful site to behold. It was clean, convenient, and a great place to watch the Yankees take on their division rival, Baltimore. The Yanks opened up with a four run first inning and simply had to hold on from there. We got to see Posada hit a homerun, Jeter score, some great play in the field, and Mariano Rivera save another game in his illustrious career.

After the Yankees won we quickly hussled back to the boat as I woofed down my first cigarette in about three and a half hours. We reboarded the Yankee Clipper and got ready for our return trip around the City. As beautiful as it was on our trip to the stadium it was just as beautiful on the way back. The sun slowly drifting its way behind the buildings and our thankfulness that we weren’t stuck in the rush hour traffic of the world’s most major metropolis. We were simply able to enjoy the view and reflect on what had been a very great day.