Yesterday, my seven-year-old daughter saw the Toomer’s Oaks for the first time since the pruning . She was in the passenger seat. She looked up, then she looked back down. She said “I don’t want to look at them.”
We’re at that stage now. Kids don’t want to look at the Toomer’s Oaks.
But kids will also likely be the last to give up hope that the trees can be saved. At least a little girl named Sarah hasn’t given up hope.
After news of the poisoning broke, there were tons of them—cards, posters, rolls of toilet paper, flowers. They were out there for weeks. The university eventually gathered them up and put them on display in the library. The barricades have been bare of Get Well Soons ever since. But when I walked past the oaks this morning, nearly two weeks after they were mangled almost beyond recognition, there was a new, solitary card clothes-pinned to one of the bars, flapping in the wind.
Last week, the university released a statement that said the oaks were likely “the long term outlook for the trees is not good.”
Sarah, and probably hundreds of other kids in Auburn, didn’t get the memo.
Related: Michigan second graders send get-well cards to the Toomer’s Oaks, monitor trees via webcam.
More on the the Toomer’s Oaks: Wire system being considered as temporary solution for rolling Toomer’s / Toomer’s Corner rollings didn’t start with Punt, Bama, Punt, says History / Did Auburn students celebrate Bear Bryant’s death by rolling Toomer’s Corner
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I’ve been back living in Auburn for a few weeks now and I’ve avoided driving through there. I just really don’t want to see them in that state.
They do look bleak, but I agree with Sarah, I’m still hoping. Great card Sarah.
it is just a tree!!! people should pay attention to things that really matter!!!
Yeah, they’re not just trees. They’re metaphors, darn it!
Maybe you can go tell that to the child who felt bad enough to make such a beautiful card. She cares, but maybe you can tell her to just get over it.
I suppose the USS Enterprise and the USS Constitution are just boats, and Liberty is just a statue. Rushmore is just a rock, and Vietnam war memorial is just a granite wall with graffiti etched into it.
It’s not just the trees, but the memories of the people who went to the school, cheered and celebrated their team’s victories. This is why we memorialize anything – for the people who were there to remember and be remembered.
I’m with The War Eagle Elementary Reader on this one.
3 generations of my family walked through under those trees. The 4th won’t get the chance.
sullivan 013- could not have said it better. People that don’t understand what those trees meant don’t care. They were living things and those trees had been there for many, many years. If you don’t care about trees, then you really don’t care about this earth. Also, calling the Auburn eagle a vulture is insane. It is an American symbol of freedom as well as part of Auburn’s traditions. People that say all of these derogatory comments and say things like “get over it”, really have no idea what they are talking about and are part of the problem.
I still cannot believe Updyke poisoned our oaks over a win. If we never played Alabama in the Iron Bowl game again, would be fine by me. He will always be one of the forever faces of UofA.
It’s just the symbol of a school’s football program, destroyed by the fan another school, enraged by his beloved team losing in an embarrassing fashion to said school. I don’t know what the big deal is.
I also like potted meat and unsalted crackers. I have fat arms with sores on them and I’ve never purchased dental floss.
I usually get dental floss from my dentist for free. I rarely purchase it.
I would never trust a dentist who doesn’t give me take home samples of toothpaste, floss, and nitrous oxide.
I hope they throw the book at Updyke and send a message to the other bamnmer rednecks like him that this will NOT be tolerated and if it happens, there WILL be a severe price to pay. Make an example out of this worthless POS.
sullivan013
Awesome post.