Memorial for a 500 year old being

Today on the way to a friend’s house for dinner, we drove by a giant tree.  It appeared to be, and is in fact, dead.  My wife, the real tree lover, spotted it first.  It turns out that the tree, a Bur Oak located in Merrillville, Indiana, is between 500 and 800 years old and is one of the three oldest trees in Indiana.  The photo below was taken 3 1/2 years ago, when officials were still trying to save the tree.

This is what it looks like today.

The Bur Oak has now been pronounced dead and will be removed.  The cause of death is unknown.

I don’t have anything profound to say.  I just want to take a moment and honor the passing of a being that was here before Columbus.

“Trees are sanctuaries.  Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.  They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

— Hermann Hesse, Wandering