The Stench of Bradford Pears in the Springtime
It’s the first full day after the Vernal Equinox. Warmer weather. Many rain days. Green buds on the trees. Buttercups and Tulips making their way to the sun. There are already dandelions in the grass outside my back door. But nothing is more of a harbinger of Spring than the white blossoms of the Bradford Pear trees. White blossoms with the accompanying stench of an open air fish market. These trees are worse than the dandelions. They cross pollinate with native trees, creating frankentrees that turn into impenetrable non-native thickets and brambles. The rapscallion species has thorns with the ability to penetrate tractor tires. While driving home from Tennessee yesterday, the forest areas beside the Interstate are riddled with the monster species.
It’s not that the tree is inherently evil.
This tree is simply not meant to grow in the Southern US.
Pyrus calleryana (i.e., Bradford Pear trees) may be great when planted in the native environment of Taiwan, Vietnam, or Southern China. That’s where they will freely flourish.
In the Southern US, they are monster trees that should be removed.
Cut down.
Purged.
Bloom where you’re planted, they say.
And sometimes that’s what you have to do.
But I also say sometimes we need to plant ourselves some place else. Leadership is about ecosystems and sometimes we are in an ecosystem where we not only cannot thrive, but where we may cause harm to the people who are supposed to be there.
Some work environments are toxic for all life forms. Nothing will grow in those places.
You may be in a work environment that is just toxic to you and only you. Transplant yourself to a healthy ecosystem.
And consider this:
Are you the toxic one? Are you the Bradford Pear of your workspace? Unlike a tree, you have the option of excising yourself.
If you have a Bradford Pear tree in your yard, do yourself and the environment a favor by cutting it down. It will probably break apart when you get strong winds or an ice-storm, anyway. You might as well deal with it before it does more damage than it already has.
And if you find yourself in a toxic work environment — is it the environment that’s toxic?
Or is it me?
Either way, sometimes it’s best to transplant yourself to a place where all will thrive. You can’t fix the tree. You can fix the ecosystem and the environment in which the tree grows.
