Post #10 – where the author ponders life & death
I didn’t mean to write another deep & meaningful post, which may be where this might be going, but let’s see what happens.
Destruction is easy. On the weekend I cut a tree down with a chainsaw and it took all of a few minutes. A tree that would have been 40-50 years old, felled in a moment. I didn’t just drop the tree, (while it was now dead) it also once provided shade, was a habitat, as well as being a food supply. It had grown slowly and serenely over an extended period and had become part of the eco system of the bush. It didn’t take very long to bring it down. I guess dropping it means that the site is safe from falling limbs and we have some timber as fuel supply. There is loss, but there is gain. New trees will be planted to replace the lost tree, and in time we’ll have our shade, habitat and the food supply (for Koalas) back.
The point I want to make though, is that there’s going to be a forty year time span between replenishing the forest from it’s current state. There should have been some planning to replace the old-timer trees with new ones a long time ago. For having disregard to the long term future health of the bush, we will need to wait a generation (or longer) before it’s back as it was.
I guess we call it succession planning in management speak and I see the problem becoming app rant in higher education and in particular learning and educational design. Many of us are getting older and there’s a lot of experience, knowledge, and (might I say) wisdom to be passed on. There will always be ‘young one’s’ coming through to replace us as we get older and move on, but how well is this planned for? Let’s hope our managers recognise the importance of having a range of maturity and experience available, and not have a generational gap in the #highered workplace ecosystem.
What’s left after chainsaw inflicted destruction.
Word of the Day is: ‘prevaricator’, which means a person who keeps making excuses.
Tags: blogjune