Do you remember the meme when fall first arrived? You know…that meme?
There were quite a few, but all had the same message. The pics or gifs or pdfs or whatever we call them nowadays, shows a picture of an oak or maple with half of the tree still holding tight to its orange and yellow leaves, while the other half of leaves already landed on the ground. The text reads something to the effect of…
The trees are about to show us how to let things go.
Honestly, it’s the most annoying meme that comes across my social media feed every fall equinox.
That author/ graphic designer must live in Tucson, Arizona. Because if they lived in an area with trees, hell, with changing seasons, they never would have created that rubbish. Tuscan has a rolling tumbleweed crisis, not a falling foliage burden. Here, in the Northeast, we’re like Bo, we know leaves—and we struggle with disposing of them.
We could let the leaves naturally decompose on the lawn, but I see two problems with this. First, it’s really hard to scoop dog poop that’s buried in leaves. Realistically, the poop usually finds your shoes before the scooper. Second, we’ve spent the whole summer nurturing and organically feeding the lawn so the neighbors can complement our yard and boost our egos.
Maybe it all boils down to our need to control nature and the only way to do this is by landscaping and cultivating our government-taxed plot of land.
I have spent the past two weekends raking, blowing, mulching, and moving piles and piles of leaves. Don’t tell me that just because the trees are letting their issues float down upon the world that I should too. Because all I’m doing is picking up other people’s/ trees crap.
Let’s think about this a moment.
When we shed our issues like the tree leaves in fall, we’re left naked, cold, and vulnerable to all the elements, to another person’s scrutinizing eye. Letting go what doesn’t suit our purpose, creates a void. That void makes us susceptible and exposed, just like the bare trees, birds, and Gary, my backyard chipmunk, to the elements in the dead of winter (not a Tucson winter).
And how do we discard those leaves? Are we blowing them onto the neighbor’s lawn with the mentality of not my problem? Because we have all seen a neighbor or two do this. Don’t lie.
We can cram the dried leaves into the store purchased infamous yard bags. And then what? Our garbage workers have to get out of the comfy driver’s seat to toss big ass bags of dried leaves into the waste bucket, that winds up in a dump to decay alongside broken electronics for little critters to make a home. Still moving the problem!
Maybe the point of the misinformed Tucson graphic designer is that sometimes when we let go of our warm and cozy suits, yes, we are left defenseless and a bit afraid of what might lurk in the darkness; but we are also allowing space for new growth. That growth may not happen over a season. It may take years for our fallen leaves to decompose. But Nature has a tendency to know best and sometimes what’s best for us isn’t always comfortable.