Belonging

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. - Voltaire

And so it begins...Today marks the unofficial start of summer. The impact of this is felt in large measure where I live as the weekend population of the small towns that dot the Jersey shore will increase by tens of thousands for the next 12 weeks. The tourists bring much needed commerce to the area and despite the headaches that come with all of these extra people, the welcome mat that is laid out for the visitors benefits the locals in many ways too. There is this one thing on that welcome mat, though, that seems unnatural, unnecessary, and unkind. The annual planting of palm trees along the beach. They do not belong.

It started a couple of decades ago, beach clubs and restaurants would plant the trees in the spring and then dig them up or let them die in the fall. Then they would repeat the same thing the following year, year after year. Some private residences followed suit, all in an effort to give the impression that visitors are not actually where they are: in New Jersey. The native trees of the area are scrubby pines and bayberry bushes, American Beachgrass and knotweed. These are beautiful, hardy trees and plants that provide shade, habitat, and protect the shoreline. The do belong.

Is it just human nature to force what doesn't belong? We want so badly to feel like we are in the tropics when we are not, or to create the illusion that we are in a happy place, both literally and spiritually. If we can convince ourselves and those around us that this tree belongs, truly belongs in a spot that we know will lead to its demise, or that we are exactly where and with whom we should be at this point in our lives, then we might satisfy the deep need for belonging that we all have. If we accept what occurs naturally in a particular space, without coercion, or manipulation or pretending, we begin to see the beauty of that occurrence, and not the ugliness of something that should not be there. What if we allowed what wants to grow and thrive in a space to BE instead of planting what will never grow?

I will spend my summer on the beaches of my beloved state, and I will avoid the palm trees whose days are numbered. I will look for the scrubby pines that will outlive me. They are what feels natural, necessary and kind to the environment and to myself, and that is where I will go. I will get outside as much as I possibly can, because there is where I belong.