I got in trouble today. Our home is located in the Ponderosa Pines where it’s important to remove dead trees, limbs and undergrowth from among the healthy forest growth. To encourage vigilance a program is in place to help homeowners remove unwanted timber or ‘Slash’ and drop it off at a central sight. As with most programs there are rules… and like many red-blooded male types… I was a bit too busy, tired, unfocused, lazy, proud, hurried… preoccupied to read the guidelines.
So here I am in a long bed 76 Ford pulling into the slash yard when a freaked out volunteer scolds, “You know better than that…” “Better than what,” I questioned? “There’s a 6′ length limit for all slash.”
…Oops, should have read that section.
Earlier this morning I chose an overgrown area of the forest and cut out about 50 to 60 dead trees and threw them over the top of the pickup. These skinny beanpole-esk trees were long enough to overhang the full length of the pickup, front to back. I would estimate their length at 18-20 feet which was a rule-breaking overage of at least 12 feet! Impressive, right? Without even trying I believe I set a new record for violating the 6 foot rule. (I probably shouldn’t be proud but I am, just a bit.)
So I promised the over concerned attendant that I would break the trees into legal lengths. Backing up to the dump site I began the arduous task of snapping those 20 footers into legal lengths.
Then I heard it… about one-third into the task there was a heavenly sound, a chainsaw, louder and louder as a fellow slasher came to rescue this sinner. Although I deserved the consequences of my blatant rule breaking I was about to be rescued!
When this hero finished cutting my illegal load he offered, “next time you’re here I’ll help you again.” It was as if this knight in shinning chainsaw knew me well. I was barely finished cleaning up this mistake and he was offering to help me repair the next one. What a great moment for me, someone overlooked my foolishness and helped with a mistake that was totally my own, my responsibility, my problem.
Sometimes when telling a story I will add a tag with a higher thought or deeper meaning. It’s tempting to add some clever remark like, “rules are good for you,” or “rules are fun to break,” but today I’m just pleased that someone was kind. Kindness is a good thing that speaks volumes and stand on its’ own!