September 8, 2008
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1 So I'm on my way out to the parking lot yesterday when this couple walks past me purportedly on their way late to class.
2 I have a prep period after lunch so I'm able to get out right then and get away from stuff. Worlds collide.
3 These two were right in front of me, but were having a deep conversation about the hickies the guy had on his neck,which amounted to approximately a baker's dozen, give or take three.
4 Clearly I was within earshot, but they didn't seem to mind one bit. The boy complained that the girl was a bit too carnivorous the night before, or maybe even within the last ten minutes.
5 I didn't really stop to ask. I thought I was in a teen-age monster movie.
6 She denied about six of them, but so far as I could tell had no explanation for the other six.
7 Why either of these players wasn't in class is anybody's guess.
8 No shame.
9 They clearly weren't our more established scholars, that's for sure.
10 She very well might have been the younger sister of the girl from Save Mart who wanted me to push the green buh-in.
11 I still can't quite put that one behind me yet.
12 Ah, vell. That's yesterday's lunch.
13 Moving on: I've kept a half-eye on the Berkeley Tree-Sitters since they first started their crusade a while back. At the time, I laughed because I thought they were freaks in search of a cause.
14 After the initial protests and those guys took refuge in the trees, I thought, "Hey, not a bad way to stay alive without having to go to work, or even bathe for that matter."
15 But that's just the old cynical lion in me, forgetting what it was like to put the heart and soul into a cause larger than oneself. They looked like rebels in search of a handout, rather than any real cause.
16 Like, there's a war going on? Or we have an administration that has no concept of global warming? Or that gas prices need an answer? I just didn't see spending passion and time on a few oak trees. But I must say, I changed just a little with time.
16 I went through a period when I started to root for those guys. I thought that anyone that passionate should have a rooter bus, with pom poms, drums, and stony Deadheads providing physical as well as spiritual nurturing. I envisinoned veggie burritos thrown from the tops of trees to the admiring masses.
17 I knew from the git-go that they didn't have a prayer of winning that one, but it was fun watching a dedicated group of Davids trying with all their might to fight Goliath.
18 I never could figure out why the University didn't move right in, get the cops to arrest them, and then buzz down the trees. But in our new Green era, I imagine that would have been a bit PI.
19 On that alone I would have liked to have seen the University save the trees and design the building around them. It would have been a great little triumph for the human spirit, and a wise move on behalf of the University.
20 Instead, I saw some horrid confrontation emerging yesterday afternoon. It was tough to see people being told that their two-year struggle had finally come to an end.
21 I actually felt pangs of sympathy.
22 All of which lasted about five seconds once I saw how the rest of the world has bulldozed a billion things, and how San Jose's history is one of buildings going the way of the wrecking ball.
23 Sad awakening, but despite all the heart and soul those people had, the rest of the world has been waking up, going to classes, going to work, and putting up with all sorts of forces over which we have little or no control whatsoever.
24 A year from now, there will be a state-of-the art sports center, and within five years the tree sitters will be all but forgotten.
25 Too bad, because with a little more initiative, they could have ended a war, or brought down government corruption.
26 Still, I admire them for their sacrifices and passion for what they felt was worth putting their lives completely on hold. You just don't see that anymore, and on that alone, I have to salute these guys.
27 Well, must be getting early; clocks are running late.
28 You have a great day, and plant a tree today, willya?
29 I don't know about you, but I'd sure feel a little better.
30 Before I go, I want to give a shout out to everybody who is moving into the Fall with renewed hope. A lot of you are jumping into worlds you've never been, so live life, love life with everything you have.
31 Beginnings are significant.
32 That's it.
33 Peace, and thanks tree sitters, for clinging to the hope that somehow, we might all understand the importance of saving a few nice things for our children, and for their children.
34 Peace.
~H~
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