Population

Intro

There was this tree in my backyard. I had a crystal clear view of it from my bedroom window. It towered over any other tree in sight, probably within the entire neighborhood. During the summer of 2099, our humble city experienced its worst drought. Every single lawn in our entire county was brown, every plant was dying, the trees seem to lose their green; all but the tree, my tree. My tree was nice and green, full of life. When the drought came to an end I noticed other trees and plants around the neighborhood started growing again, but nothing around my old oak tree. Everything within a ten foot radius was hard and dead. No matter how much water or fertilizer I placed on the grass, flowers, or even weeds-- nothing would grow. I quickly realized my tree was sucking up all the nutrients and killing all other life; it was preventing other life a chance to thrive and show their worth to the world. This along with the ample amount of rainfall and storms we were suppose to get that winter, my parents were forced to make the decision to get the tree removed. I told them I would run away or break all the china in the house if they went through with their plans. I was grounded for a week of course, but they did explain to me that sometimes the things we love and want will only end up hurting us in the end. To this day, I still never understood what they meant exactly, but all I remember was that by the time I came home from school that next day, my tree was gone.