By Dominique Hes
I am horrified, sad, and heartbroken by the destruction I saw recently at Newport Lakes. After 30 years of the community working together with Hobsons Bay Council, some of the more mature trees along with some samplings have been vandalised.
They have been destroyed to the point where they have had to be taken down. As I work past my anger and disappointment, I ask the question … WHY? Why would someone go to the park and willfully destroy it? Is it self-loathing and hate of life? Are they so blinded by anger that they take it out on Nature? Or are they looking to collect wood because they are struggling with life?
Is this what happens when people are hurting so much they can’t love the ‘place’ they live in. Or it is a pattern we see when the way you have grown up means that it is ok to chop down a tree, because you want it, without considering the community or the Nature that needs it.
Whatever the reason, I would like to ask: what do we do about this as a community? How do we talk to our kids, our neighbours, and our community to make sure that whoever did this knows, it is NOT OK?
