Re-Inventing Life

Notes from The Halls of Freedom : I

The law continues to debate the approval of euthanasia as a legally condoned practice in our societies. Like capital punishment, the issue brings our societies to confront the issue life and death and the validity of our actions in the matter. The issue is an immense one. Quite frankly no man should have to face such a situation of rigor and decision making. But its here and it won't go away without an answer.

Our ability to deal with such issues has been severely tested by the events in modern history. We engage in wars for justice and the preservation of ideals. We invent pharmaceutical products that has improved and prolonged life. We have created the sacrament of the confession to forgive sins. We no longer leave the issues of life and death simply to the dictates of sacred laws. Man it seems has seen fit to engage God's laws and amend them. The kid may have come to himself.

In viewing as such our attitudes, it may be possible to encapsulate our actions as regards life in an expression. Such an expression would necessarily include an understanding of what is life. There are sections of our society today who have grown ritualized into a practice of saving and promoting life. It would be aborrent to them to hear of anything that is remotely connected to causing injury and death of another.

In a park near where I live a tree had suddenly uprooted and fallen. The workers from the municipality came around with chainsaws and made a quick job of removal. But I was curious. So I sat there that evening and like a tree detective from CSI tried to reconstruct the events of the tree's death. It was a vocation that I'm not trained for. But I figured I'll rely on my common sense.

The tree was about 25 feet tall with a trunk diameter of about one foot and it had grown on a slight incline that was next to the main road. Close by, at a distance of about 7-8 feet, below the incline, there were another two trees of the same specie on level ground. It had been a robust tree compared to the other two and there was no storm of note on the preceding day. There was no sign of insect activity on the ground.

I examined the cavity left by the uprootment and noticed that it had relied on a larger root system going down the incline compared to those extending upwards. That would have meant that below ground its roots would have competed with the other two trees whose appearance of being stunted may have been caused by the deceased ( tree ).

I made the conclusion that I thought was obvious. The tree had lacked balance and while in that situation it was in competition with another two trees. That's not a good position to be in. In a push and shove and perhaps with a strong wind it had tipped over. No man had willed it to happen. It had occurred quite properly by the laws of physics, biology and landscapes. I remember standing up and suddenly feeling myself in the presence of another life. I refer to the other two trees. In their will to defend themselves I recognized a part of my own life.

The experience occupied my attention for a while and I postponed my trips to the park for a few days. I had come to experience a life that was not man nor anima. To understand its nature I was forced to engage the estimations of my mind and passions to create a notion of events my eyes had not witnessed. But I know to be certain the events that must have occurred. Such it would appear is the power of invention. It is more than a witness, it is its creator.