This last weekend I took some prospective buyers down to my forest in Morgan county. I always love to take the one hour drive and view the country side on the way down.

I had a nice walk through the forest once we arrived, pointing out deer droppings to the prospective buyers, in an area that they had bed down in.

This couple seems very nice, and seem interested in preserving the 65 acre forest in it’s natural state, and allowing the wildlife to live without being hunted. This is part of what I am looking for in the next caretaker of this land.

However, as we drove around a winding road, which allowed a bird’s eye view of groping naked trees, a conflicting view of old refrigerators, tires, and other trash framed our view. Apparently someone decided that this particular part of the forest was the dump grounds. Either that, or they felt the animals needed more furnishings, I am not sure which.

My stomach grips tight and my heart skips a beat everytime I see this sight. I do not understand what possesses anyone to destroy such beauty.

Do you suppose there is some way to get people to appreciate the beauty of nature? Do you think that if someone did appreciate the beauty of nature that they would trash such a lovely forest?

If we could just stop for a few minutes the next time we are standing near some trees, and just observe. Look at the tree, put your hand on it. This tree is life. Many trees together make up another life, a larger organism that like any organism, (including our bodies), is just the sum of smaller organisms. The forest is an organism, made up of the smaller organisms of trees.

I am not against killing trees to build houses, but I believe that we should try to not disturb the forest, or use trees that are grown on farms specifically for cutting. I also believe that when we dump trash in a forest, we are hurting a living organism, the beautiful forest.

I believe that when you harm any living thing, it harms part of the living thing in whole. If you cut a finger, you feel it through your whole body. Your mind, your spirit, and your entire body suffers.

By the same token, the forest is a small organism of the larger organism of Earth. We also are part of that larger organism of Earth, and since we and the forest, along with millions of other organisms makes up this large single organism of Earth, do we hurt ourselves when we destroy a forest?

I believe so.

I believe also that the dumping of toxins into our water ways is hurting all of us, whether or not we are near these particular water ways. What kind of society are we that allows this to continue?

What if I cleaned out my garage, and hauled the junk contents over to your back yard and dumped it? What if I put my old car batteries into your water supply? Would this make you angry?

What if I did this to your neighbor, and you had to look at it. Wouldn’t you feel bad for your neighbor also? Wouldn’t you be angry?

How is this different than the dumping of toxins into our back yards of our neighbors who happen to be a few hundred or thousand miles more away? Don’t you feel bad for those neighbors? Don’t you think that this will somehow affect all of us? Doesn’t this make you angry?

You can read all the chapters of "Tims Green Stories" by going to http://timshometownstories. com. Other stories written by Tim are at http://salessuccessmagazin e.com These stories are copyrighted by Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. 1995,1996,1997,1998,1999,2000. Any person using this article must publish it without modification and include authors bio and links.