Blaise Pascal, PenseĆ© 347: “Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this. All our dignity consists, then, in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endeavor, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality.”

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Trees Come Down at Fresno State

There are words that I haven't used on this blog. Evil. Wicked. Sinful.

Those are the only words fit to describe what I saw happen this afternoon in the parking lots east of the Peters and Science Buildings, as every last tree  was cut down.

This November, I thought they were so beautiful I paused to take these pictures before going to class:





Today, this is what I saw:


Not a word to the faculty . . .




Not a word to the students . . .



They didn't even wait a week after graduation.



But they waited until the semester ended, as usual . . .



A Fresno State policeman told me they were doing this to increase parking.



The policeman told me that new trees would be planted. Great.


Kroeker: I couldn't even use that in a short story. Too improbable.


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