There is an elementary school in Seattle that has a small problem involving expediency and a tree. I am not naming the school, because this is not all about them; it is about adults versus kids.
On one end of the playground stands a lone tree, a modest evergreen, the kind you look at but don't really see if you are an adult. But kids see it as the center of their recess universe.
It shades the playground equipment from the hot sun. It is "base" for endless games of tag. It is a natural umbrella in the rain, and it even has a name: "Freddy" (not its real name).
The kids talk to the tree, and Freddy always keeps their secrets. He has as much personality as the talking tree in the Disney movie Pocahontas.
To the adults, the tree became simply an inconvenience in a planned remodeling project for the school.
So sometime during the planning process, the adults at the DPD, SDOT, the construction company and the school decided that this tree had to go, so that the trucks could flow in and out of the site more easily.
To the kids, Freddy, their BFF (ask your kid), was given a death sentence for no good reason. The kids were not told about it until four days before Freddy was cut down and dismembered.
At the assembly, when they found out, the kids started to cry, scream and chant in protest. The adults were shocked at their reaction. Parents had to console kids crying themselves to sleep that night.
The adults, including the parents, had never bothered to ask the kids about that tree. Why should they? They're just kids. Planning changes to their school is none of their business. It is up to the adults.
The adults told the kids that there was no other way to save Freddy. But we adults know deep down that there is always another way.
Entire houses are built around trees in order to save them. There is a skyscraper in downtown Denver that is built entirely around a small Irish restaurant, whose owner refused to sell out. There is always another way.
The real truth is that if the adults had cared about Freddy as much as the kids did, he would still be standing tall and strong today. The school plans to plant new trees, but none will take the place of Freddy - any more than a new dog can take the place of the one you had as a kid.
But at least Freddy will live on as long as the kids remember their grade school years.
At what point do we adults finally forget that we were once kids and equally resented having our input ignored? At our house we are planning to re-paint our 5th-grade daughter's bedroom. This time, I think we'll let her have first dibs on the color chart.
Vic Barry is a Magnolia resident.[[In-content Ad]]
