The Phone Pole; the Pylon and the Tree

Once, standing near to each other, there was a phone pole; a pylon and a tree and the phone pole was boasting,

“Through my wires I am connected to all the telephones and computers in the whole world. Important messages are carried through my wires every day from politicians and captains of industry and even big celebrities”.

And when the pylon heard this he started to boast as well,

“Oh well that’s nothing. I’m connected to the power grid. Billions of volts flow through my cables every day, powering lights and machines. Without electricity human civilisation would grind to a halt”.

Now the wise old tree, hearing the other two speak said,

“Ah, you’re both very important; that’s for certain but not as important as me because I am connected to all the life upon this planet; the oxygen that it breaths; the food which sustains it, even the weather and the power which flows through me is the energy of life; the same power which flows through human beings and the reason why men need phone poles and pylons”.

Hearing this, however, the phone pole and the pylon just scoffed.

“Huh!”, said the Phone pole, “If you’re so important, Mr Tree, then why don’t human beings care when trees are cut down. Why if a Phone Pole gets knocked down then they send out men to repair it because they can’t make phone calls without phone poles ”.

“Yes”, agreed the pylon, “And if a Pylon gets knocked down they send out men to repair it because they can’t run machines or light buildings without pylons”.

“Ahh, well”, said the tree, “They don’t care because men are short sighted, they only see the importance of things which effect them today and tomorrow and next week. But one day men will feel the effects of cutting down so many trees and they’ll realize then just how important we are”.