A Rootless Society

Often times in nature we witness occurrences that reflect truths in human life.

Not long ago I observed a storm outside my family's living room window. My family had recently planted a dogwood tree in the front yard. The tree had only been rooted for about two weeks. Planted near the dogwood was a large oak tree that had been living there for over twenty years.

As the wind of the storm roared it yanked at both trees, attempting to rip them from the earth. The oak's branches rattled furiously but the tree itself stood firm. The dogwood, on the other hand, with its shallow roots, was no match to the storm’s fury and within minutes it was carried off into the neighbor's yard.

People, like trees, need strong roots if they hope to survive life's storms.

Wendell Berry, a well-known Kentucky farmer and writer, often expressed in his writings this connection between having roots and living a healthy human life. He believed that a community is not just a group of people living in the same vicinity but a group of people living side by side with interdependence upon each other.

Today’s tragic breakdown of community is in part due to our modern day’s emphasis on placing individual rights before individual responsibilities. This contemporary individualist mentality tells people to live for themselves and themselves only. Humans today are told that they are the ruler of their own lives and they should go where they want to go and be who ever they want to be.

This individualist mindset removes any sense of duty to a certain piece of land or group of people.

As Americans, we are restless. We are constantly moving, constantly searching for something better: a new job, a bigger home, or a better school.

Oswald Chambers, a renowned Christian author and minister, writes in one of his books that “when we are in an unhealthy state physically or emotionally, we always want thrills,” we seek constant change. Living in a nation that seeks change as much as ours, this is a claim for us to seriously consider.

Despite praises of modern technology, modern convenience, and our ever increasing ability to have the world at our fingertips, I’m not so sure that these "advancements" are such a good thing. Globalization is turning humans into economic units and causing us to forget that we are also spiritual beings.

I don’t know exactly how to stop this fatal trend, but I do know that if true community is to be preserved we must stop treating humans as mere biological, economical, or political creatures, and instead treat them as if they have souls capable of love, labor, and ultimately worship.

Today, there are temptations lurking around every corner to uproot ourselves. Temptations to take that new job, move into that bigger home, or attend that better school. However, I believe we must reject modern individualist thinking and once again recognize that we have a duty to look after our own community and the people in it.

My fear is that this traditional concept of community may only be an attribute of the past. And if I am accurate in my concern than we, like the tree with shallow roots, can not and will not survive life’s imminent storms.