The boy who chopped down the Sycamore Gap Tree
Did you see the news out of the UK about the Sycamore Gap Tree being deliberately cut down? There was a huge uproar across the UK and worldwide.
https://youtu.be/rgcDn3hkQe8?si=mQMSNmZSxcnlxnsV
Police said they have arrested a 16-year-old boy following the incident, who was later released on bail. It is hard to imagine a young boy hell bent on cutting down a local legend that he would walk many miles carrying a chain saw in the dead of the night. I can’t really put myself in those shoes never feeling the need to harm a tree. What I believe is something happened somewhere, sometime that ultimately triggered this event. What I can empathize with is, if he is found guilty the stigma and outrage will never let him go. Unfortunately with such high profile news, even if found not guilty, the voice in his head will say “they think you are the boy who chopped down the Sycamore Gap Tree so I might as well be.”
“I also grieve for whoever set out last Wednesday into that storm with a chainsaw, because we have failed them just as surely as we have failed nature”, Rob Cowen.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/03/sycamore-gap-tree-grieve-chopped-down?CMP=share_btn_tw
We have had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful children at Kindred Farm who come with a myriad of negative labels and many who have “incidents” written in their school case histories. These follow them like a dark cloud throughout their school years and often into adult hood. But that stops at Kindred Farm. I take great pride in the kindness that is bestowed on these children at the farm. They can leave their negative labels and histories behind and forge new ones that allow them to be their true selves. This is where brighter futures begin.
Founder/Director
Kindred Community Farm Sanctuary