The palm tree

August 20, 2008 - 8:44 AM by

I’ve got this sprawling palm tree in my backyard that doesn’t seem to want to stop growing. As its peak shoots upward, the spiky leaves on the bottom begin to wither, turn brown and hang limp.

tree
It doesn’t really bother me,  and I think it  gives the tree, and yard, a rustic kind of desert-like, mesquite motif.
But Ahmed hates it.
An all-around handy man from a village near Hebron, Ahmed turns up at my front door on the average of once every three weeks asking for some gardening work – most specifically trimming that tree.
About three years ago, I hired the father of five for a morning to do some basic cleaning of underbrush, trimming shrubs and picking weeds. Big mistake.
Now, he keeps thinking he’s entitled to take care of the yard, which I admit, could use some taking care of.
I have no idea how he gets into my city because I doubt he has a valid work permit, but he’s always working somewhere on the street for one of the neighbors.
Whenever he knocks, we have a polite chat, I check to see if there’s any of the kids clothes which they’ve outgrown that I can offer him for his brood, and we have the same dialogue.
“You really need to do something with that tree. And I have all these hungry kids, so I’ll do it for you for practically nothing.”
“Ahmed, I just can’t afford it, and anyway I like the tree as it is.”
He turns to leave, and I, as always, feel like a heel. As tight as my financial situation might be, I’m sure his is many times worse. Maybe one of his kids, depending on what my decision what, will grow up to be either a suicide bomber or one of the first ever Palestinian peace activists.
In the meantime, the palm tree sits there, with more brown leaves drooping every day.

Tags: , • Category: A New Reality, General, Life 

Comments

2 Comments on The palm tree

  1. Ronni on Mon, Aug 25th 2008 2:48 PM

    2. Wow, David, it sounds like you care more about that half-dead tree than about your neighbors.

    Just look at that language: after you made the “big mistake” of paying him for some “basic work,” you are irked to find that he “feels entitled” to work for you, you don’t know how he “gets into [your] city” (I bet he scurries in like a rodent, but you didn’t say that) and then you speculate haughtily about his legal documentation. No thought to your role as a consumer of supposedly-illegal labor, by the way. You even go so far as to refer to his children as a “brood and then you contemplate the way your decisions might well determine whether they’ll become terrorists or “one of the first ever Palestinian peace activists” [sic]. That was extra cute — the way you denied both the political agency of these kids and the work and achievements of thousands of Palestinian peace activists. The precision and inventiveness of your prejudicial writing really leaves nothing to be desired. Except maybe just a little bit of empathy?

    Good luck with the tree.

  2. Yaakov Arie Rietberg on Tue, Aug 26th 2008 2:21 AM

    3. David,
    Never-mind the politically- correct Ronni!!

    Go get in contact with the Home Water Authorities and have your spot checked for an abundance of subterranean water.
    With that; you’ll be able to afford to pay anyone their proper wages.
    Yaakov

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