On the Rocks

Piling stone upon stone is a very zen experience. My mind gets to wander while I'm doing that repetitive thing. It's best not to look up too much, just fling rocks underhand at the shore, or I'll realize just how much there still is to bulwark. I've found it's best to focus on just one tree, and plan on reaching and surrounding that tree with rocks. So as I move from one outcropping to another, in a very real sense I'm saving the trees. Which is where my mind starts to wander...

As opposed to piling rocks around a tree to save it and the shoreline, buying carbon offsets sounds like a first cousin to buying indulgences, which sounds similar to "adopting" an overseas orphan, or naming a star. All those are bought with money, and are intangible and unprovable. As I'm heaving rocks, I visualize W.C. Fields with this stack of pictures of trees at different stages: sapling, one year old, five years old, etc., and his mailing list: "Send this sucker his 2-year old tree picture". Or kids: "Send that sucker his 5 year old orphan picture." And stars: "Sure, your star is 'officially' named. Can't see it with the naked eye? Too bad. Can I interest you in a telescope?"

Meanwhile, I've done about 80' of shoreline already. And you can touch the trees.