{"id":4252,"date":"2024-09-07T09:22:55","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T13:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/?p=4252"},"modified":"2024-09-07T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T13:22:55","slug":"father-forest-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/2024\/09\/07\/father-forest-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Father Forest Ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hmmm, will you gaze into these lenses and open your mind for a moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excuse me, please. Over here, over there and all around you. Do you see me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Father Forest Ecosystem<\/em>. I see you but all too often you do not see me as I am. You see the individual parts but not how these parts fit together, an intricate puzzle to form the whole, and how your presence can disturb the balance. So I have donned these eyeglasses to draw your attention. Creating a portal of sorts between your existence and mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What am I? I am a distinct bubble of life made up of plants, animals and other organisms as well as weather and landscape. I contain biotic (living) as well as abiotic (nonliving) parts. All are equally important and indivisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a very intricate and complex place. Every living and nonliving thing within me provides a resource that helps the survival of something else. Think of me as a chain where every plant and animal, large and small, is an essential link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am incredibly dynamic. I change constantly as I adapt to what happens within me and around me. I work unrelentingly to protect the balance that underlies my existence. I am resilient but there are limits to my power to adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must tell you that you \u2013 human beings \u2013 are my biggest challenge often without knowing it. Your footprint has the potential to impact me for better or for worse \u2013 all too often for the worse in these point-of-no-return times in which we find ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I need you to look back through these lenses appearing unexpectedly in front of you. Look long and look hard at the many parts that make up and define me. I have several layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look up and see my canopy where the tall trees compete for sunlight. My canopy provides shade and creates a microclimate that influences temperature and humidity. Creatures live here that you may never see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Look at eye level and see my understory \u2013 shrubs, small trees, vines and saplings of the canopy trees. Creatures live here that you may or may not see depending upon how perceptive you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Look down and see my floor made up of organic residues \u2013 leaves, branches, bark, stems \u2013 in various stages of decomposition feeding that which lies above it. Small creatures eke out a living here too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I welcome you into my realm for your pleasure. But I must reiterate that I need you to look back through these lenses in front of you. I need you to see the complexity of my being and the delicate interdependence that defines me. I need you to understand that I provide resources you cannot live without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot exist without your respect and reverence. Nor can you exist without what I give back to you. But alarm bells are ringing. I implore you to hear and pay heed to them while there is still time. We are in this thing called life <\/em>together. Tread lightly and respectfully within me. The welfare of both of us hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~  <\/em>Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage \u2013 Stories by Michael Robert Dyet<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills \u2013 An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael\u2019s website at <\/em>www.mdyetmetaphor.com<\/em><\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Subscribe to <\/em>Michael\u2019s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me Go Hmmm at its\u2019 internet home <\/em><\/strong>www.mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2<\/em><\/a> <\/em>. <\/em><\/strong>Instructions for subscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the right sidebar. <\/em>If you\u2019re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plea from Father Forest Ecosystem to tread lightly and respectully when we enjoy the natural world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1966,2122,2123,2125,2124,2121,18],"class_list":["post-4252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sudden-light","tag-ecosystem","tag-environment","tag-forest-canopy","tag-forest-floor","tag-forest-understory","tag-interdependence","tag-metaphor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4252"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4261,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4252\/revisions\/4261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mdyetmetaphor.com\/blog2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}