The parasitic horde

Day Four

A story in a single image

On occasion she was driven to great despair over the human race. Looking at this mass of trees was one such occasion; made worse by the hill walking family she’d encountered further back along the path. The little boy had been so enamoured with the “forest” as he’d called it, this horde of parasitic organisms that were assassinating the land deserved no such accolade. She often wondered who was at fault for the situation; someone on the top rungs of the ladder, no doubt, but how far up the ladder was the worrying part. The question that brought on her despair…was it selfishness and greed or just utter ignorance and stupidity?

Reforestation was a good idea in theory however choosing a species of tree not native to the country without seemingly researching it effectively should have thrown up flags to someone at least. It was a perfect candidate after all, quick growing, with a tendency to go straight up so it could be densely packed into one area; more trees in the space with a better turn around means more money. A perfect option…except this species likes a lot of sunshine and the reason it grows nice and straight is because it comes from a temperate climate, not a country that sees more wind and rain than sun and can have some extremes in weather by the hour, never mind the day. The last little gem in its resume, because it does get planted at exceptionally close quarters it prevents anything else from taking root, strips the soil of any natural goodness and means that actually nothing can be replanted after it. Either someone didn’t do enough research or just didn’t think that things such as differences in climate would have much of an affect, aka mindless, or they had some idea of what would happen but needed the money these trees would provide and decided that it was a concern for future generations, aka egotistic. Her melancholy was further added to by the fact that people seemed not to have a clue about the issue or didn’t want to do anything about it if they did.

 

So I wrote this and then realised that I didn’t really know where I was going with it. No matter how many times I tried to work in some sort of resounding ending it just didn’t work. I decided to go ahead and post this anyway even though it’s a bit something and nothing, but maybe some constructive criticism or advice can be derived from it…?

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