If a tree falls...

If a mighty oak topples on Hill Street and doesn’t land on anyone, is it a miracle?

An old oak toppled on the street below us last week, taking off part of the roof of the main house and knocking a few things about on the neighboring property. The change in the landscape is odd. The loss of the tree creates a vacancy, opening our view to Main Street.

The tree, ancient and elephantine, was apparently vulnerable because of its size. Heavy rains soaked the wood, making the mighty oak so top-heavy that a vigorous wind pulled it out by the roots. Upturned and lying on its side, the root knot stood taller than the men who worked for a week cutting the herbaceous carcass up into useable chunks. Hewn oak for fireplaces and wood stoves, providing yet another benefit. That oak has already served the causes of beauty, fragrance and shade for many years.

Its falling causes me to survey our neighborhood for other Brobdingnagian features, assessing the threat to our own home. Certainly that tree might have fallen when a neighbor was out working in the yard. It might have crashed on a child at play. It might have landed squarely on the house itself, crashing through to a bedroom where an innocent lay sleeping, rather than just catching a corner of the roof and landing in the open yard between two houses. Slight property damage. No injury.

So, if a mighty oak topples on Hill Street and doesn’t land on anyone, is it a miracle?
It is as least very good fortune.