We spent the weekend at the home of friends in the Finger Lakes Region of
New York. They have a veranda with a million dollar view of one of the
lakes surrounded by lush verdant forest. Perhaps I have a touch of
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because I was persistently annoyed by the top
of one dead tree that stuck up above a perfect layer of green. I wanted to
take a chain saw and go down the hillside and eliminate it. When I finally
mentioned it my host was horrified. "You can't," he exclaimed. "It's my
hawk stick!" He's an avid birdwatcher and apparently raptors love to sit
atop that one dead treetop giving both the hawk and my host great views.

It was amazing. Once I realized the dead tree had a valuable purpose I no
longer wanted to cut it down. It was useful. It provided something the
living trees did not. Solomon was right again. There is a purpose for
everything. Actually, it's a lesson I have discovered about people. Have
you ever met someone whom you deemed to be useless? I'm ashamed to mention
this because that is so wrong. But I have been guilty. It was only after I
knew more about the person that I realized they had a gift, they had
purpose, they had someone they loved and it was none of my business to make
such a judgment. There is no such thing as a useless person. Just because
I wasn't perceptive enough to discern their value was a judgment about me
and not them. I need to remind myself that I have come across individuals
who most likely thought I was useless.