A soft breeze is blowing through the woods of Alabama. Unlike the shock and devastation associated with the tornadoes we experienced here last week, this wind is a gentle whisper that has gone largely unnoticed.
It is a wind of change. A way of life is disappearing.
Most Alabamians are unaware of the growing silence. From the Shoals to the Gulf, life goes on for most of us; and yet the changes taking place in the Alabama forest may prove to be as dramatic as the disappearance of King Cotton was to our countryside one hundred years ago.
The forest itself is healthy. Alabama is blessed with some of the best forest land in North America, if not the world. All but our elderly citizens would be surprised to learn that we have more forested acres in the state now than in recorded history. It is the cornerstone of our economy, providing more jobs and more income than any other industry.
But we are in a transition period--what economists call "an adjustment." And every day that passes brings a little more silence to the Alabama forest.
It is a complicated story with a difficult plot.
Please allow me to share it with you in the days ahead.
The damn palm
12 hours ago
Must be a complicated story because I got no idea what you're talking about. I wait.
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting for you to tell this story, Ray, but I had thought I would read it in FICTION :-)
ReplyDeleteWoman, you know I can't write fiction. Creative nonfiction is my genre.
ReplyDeleteIf a tree falls in the woods and ....
ReplyDeleteoh, nevermind
If a tree falls in the woods, and there ain't no hillbilly around to hear it, does the tree become a moonshine still?
ReplyDeleteGood one Redhead. The "Silence in the Woods"--"if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Very clever. You got one by me.
ReplyDelete