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“I’m looking at the trees,” she said as I approached her in my kayak on a Northwoods lake.
Tucked into a small kayak, she was an elderly woman bedecked in a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and a lifejacket. I had been watching her for a while as I paddled across calm waters, for she seemed to be just sitting there. Only paddling occasionally. Mostly drifting and looking up.
Was she lost?
“Hello!” I said as I paddled close. “How are you doing?”
“Good morning!” she answered, her voice filled with fluid peacefulness. “I’m looking at the trees.”
“Aren’t they beautiful?” I answered glancing up at green feathery pines, sculptured oak and white birch, backlit against a vibrant blue sky.
“Yes, they really are,” she whispered staring skyward as if memorizing the shapes of the leaves. Just then a majestic blue heron landed on a low branch right behind her, its wings spread wide like an angel.
“Oh, I’m sorry I missed it,” she said when I told her, “but I’ve spotted two eagles over yonder.”
“I’ll look for them,” I answered. “Enjoy this lovely day.”
“I will,” she said, paddling forward, her stroke as gentle as her voice.
I have thought about that encounter a lot lately, especially as smoke from the Canadian wildfires shrouds our skies with a ghostly haze. For how often do any of us just sit still and look up at the trees? How often do we really appreciate the blessing of their life-giving force, their shade, their habitat for wildlife, their beauty?
As forests throughout the world burn, I am reminded of poet Joyce Kilmer’s words: “I think that I shall never see/ A poem lovely as a tree ...”
— Marnie O. Mamminga, Batavia
Greed-fueled climate change
As I read an article in the Nation & World section on July 14, “Earth hit global heat record in June; July has been hotter,” I was astonished!
A climate scientist from Cornell University reported some dire information. “The recent record temperatures, as well as extreme fires, pollution and flooding we are seeing this year are what we expect to see in a warmer climate ... that we expect to worsen.”
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded water temperatures of 98 degrees around Florida near the Everglades and 97 degrees near the Keys. The record heat “is because of two main reasons: long-term warming caused by heat-trapping gases spewed by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas that’s then boosted by a natural El Niño (which is considered weak),” the article paraphrased NOAA global analysis chief Russ Vose as saying.
The NOAA predicts 2024 will be even hotter than this year. Human-driven climate change adds a permanent “Super El Niño” worth of heat to the atmosphere every decade.
Is this the best we can do for our children and grandchildren’s future? Or is greed winning?
Greed is a killer.
— Marsha Magala, Chicago
Ignoring vulnerable Chicagoans
For several years, there has been a neglected homeless encampment at DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Irving Park Road. Through winter storms, summer heat and smoke-filled skies, the city of Chicago has ignored these people living without running water, utilities and in direct risk of being hit by a car.
The city of Chicago has announced that across the street from these overlooked people, it will be housing 500 to 600 migrants who chose to cross multiple borders illicitly. In a city with budget deficits and underfunded public schools and services, and in need of major infrastructure overhauls, our elected officials have decided to prioritize housing people in lakefront accommodations rather than focus these resources on the vulnerable Chicagoans ignored year after year.
If only the national headlines would cover the homelessness of U.S. nationals, perhaps the folks at Irving and DuSable Lake Shore Drive could one day be housed, too. Until then, Chicago will continue to offer welfare to people whose governments do not do the same for U.S. citizens.
— Ryan Wheeler, Chicago
The state of the Blue Line
The op-ed on Tuesday about replacing the CTA board was right on (“Chicago needs a CTA board that will challenge agency leadership,” July 18). My wife and I often go downtown, usually on Metra. Once or twice a year, I relent and decide to give the Blue Line another try, as we did recently.
I will paint the picture: The parking lot at the Rosemont Transit Center is a disgrace with cracked concrete and debris everywhere, and the parking fee payment area is a mess. A dismal experience. Then there was the ride. During the segment of the Blue Line that travels down the Kennedy Expressway, the driver was going so fast that the train car was rocking and jolting and screeching loudly. We and other passengers imagined that derailment was a real possibility.
The return trip was even worse. In the Washington subway stop, we were subjected to deafening music in the performance area, thus making the waiting and waiting for the train even worse. The first train was standing room only, and it went on. We took the next standing room-only train and regretted it.
What a miserable experience. Maybe I’ll try it again next year.
The CTA has a board whose job it is to heap adoration on the CTA president! What an outrage.
Chicago Tribune Opinion
— Blaise J. Arena, Des Plaines
False equivalence in cartoon
Thursday’s editorial cartoon showed ugly, blatant ageism. A woman considers one presidential candidate: “Attempted a coup, wants to be dictator.” And then another: “80 years old.” Her reaction? “Eenie, meenie, miney ...” Really? These characteristics are comparable?
Attempting a coup is a choice, and a pretty negative one, but no one can help their age, which can be a positive, as well as a negative, attribute. Some gifts, like creativity and the ability to make connections between unrelated concepts, can be increased by age and experience. George Bernard Shaw and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe produced great works after age 75, and Michelangelo was prolific until he was almost 90. Of course, not all older adults have such abilities or genius — but neither do all younger adults.
The “editorial” message in this “cartoon,” besides being discriminatory and offensive, offered no discernible analytical thought, and it definitely wasn’t funny.
— Diane O’Neill, Chicago
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