Lost tribe of Westwood

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to witness, does it make a sound?

The real question is, Are we listening? Something like selective hearing. You hear what you want to hear and disregard the rest. There are different levels of hearing that we are not aware of. How do we decide what or who to listen to?

Two weeks ago an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor leak happened in Japan. The news carried it on every channel. Everyone listened, for about a week and then moved on to something else. It had become history. Even though bodies were still being recovered, people are still with out home, food, and basic necessities, we have stopped listening.

When someone passes away suddenly, we often exclaim that we did not hear of any problems that person might have been going through. We all of a sudden start to hear everything about their lives from second hand sources. We find out more about that person at their funeral that we never new while that person was alive.

Some people choose to be alone and not share their lives, others try to tell everyone, but no one listens. People don't walk around with signs saying, "talk to me, I'm lonely." Many time these people could be wearing a sign that says "leave me alone".


This past week we heard of a family member who had passed away, and his body wasn't found until over a week later. He had had a past of alcohol and drug abuse, recovery and relapse. He chose to live off the map. Failed family, failed marriage, failed military career, and not much to show for 50 years of living. He died almost alone, his dog was there. He had been on disability from a working accident, and his cause of death was an accidental mixture of pain medication and alcohol. You could say that his tree fell in the Forrest and no one was there to hear it. Now that his is gone, everyone is wondering why they weren't listening.

In this case people tried to help, but he was not willing to say he needed help. He chose to live alone, and that is the way he died. He chose not to listen to others who offered help. It was his choice. He already had made the decision that other people were not important for him.

His life, and many others lives could have been so different if we as Americans had put our attention to where it belongs. Raising our children, making sure that there is medical care, and making education available to all without a price tag applied. Would this have changed the outcome? Not anymore, but we can stop this from happening now. Listen, there are a lot of trees falling in the woods and no one there to hear it. There is no profit in listening. We only profit in sickness and death. Our system of government calls for profit on pain and suffering.

Until the day comes that we value life over profit and riches, that we stop trying to get all the money, and devalue the live of others, nothing will change. When we care more about Charlie Sheen then that troubled kid that is skipping school there will continue to be a decline in personal value at the cost of a few getting more money.
Rest in peace Tim, maybe we can hear something in death that we couldn't hear in life.