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| BRUTAL MORNING |
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| DAVID DOESN'T POSE FOR PHOTOS |
Anyone can be a tree hugger. It's the tree planters that do the environmental work of the world.
David Burst is a tree planter. I looked in vain for a photo of his face in my thousands-of-photos archives. I have plenty of pictures of David wrestling a B & B tree into a planting hole, or of him wielding a shovel in that hole. The focus was always on the tree, or the shovel, or the hole. My camera evidently never caught his facial features, as he was always busy working, mostly with his head down. This is the best I could find; David up to his British arse in the mud, planting.
David is one of my favorite people; always concerned about others, never himself. "Art, let me lift that pot, it's heavy." "Art, let me wheel that barrow, you're not getting any younger."
Work, work, work. Mud encrusted boots, ripped jeans, hands gnarled and cracked. David has ensured more oxygen for the planet, sequestered more carbon dioxide, provided more shade for unknown people on hot summer days than a whole University department of forestry professors, or a gaggle of Prius-driving garden club ladies.
David is a tree planter. He works diligently for what most would not, with fresh air and personal satisfaction the main benefit of the job.
David has cancer, bad. I last saw him in late fall, when we were wrapping up a tree-planting job. "See you next spring," he said, and I sincerely hope I do, as I do not wish to plant trees without him.
If you have a passion for trees, for the "environment," let a little of it rub off on David with a couple of bucks, donated to:
David Burst's Brain Cancer Fundraiser, at: w.w.w.GiveForward.com
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