Does it make a sound?

If a tree falls in the middle of the woods and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound?

It’s unclear. 

But one thing is for certain: it’s a total waste. 

Because never under any circumstances should a notable event like a tree falling be squandered. It deserves people’s attention and there’s a real opportunity to capitalize on the demise and downfall of said tree. Don’t be foolish and think that a tree falling in and of itself has sufficient significance. You’ve got to cash in on the opportunity to make sound.

There will be condolences and posturing, and long histrionic monologues about how much this tree mattered. There will be outright lies and overexaggerated anecdotes aimed at cementing this tree as one of the most significant there ever was. People will come out of the woodwork, people we’ve never heard of!! 

People we’ve never seen, will come, to claim a deep connection with that tree.

When that tree was still standing we barely paid it much notice. 

But now, though all evidence says otherwise, we declare that that tree was our rock, our hiding place, our inspiration for all we did. The tree didn’t just fall, the sky fell. 

And now our world is crumbling as well. 

This is the chance, this is the chance to make this tree matter and do not ever throw away the opportunity for delicious sympathy. The universe lost a good tree today. 

And yet trees fall all the time. There’s nothing unusual or spectacular about a tree falling no matter how great or small it was. And no amount of noise or sound can make its falling matter more than if it made no sound at all. 

Whether if it falls alone with no one to hear or falls with great fanfare in front of a large gathered assembly of onlookers, it doesn’t matter. Nothing changes in the end. The tree came from the ground and to the ground it inevitably returns. When it hits the ground, it rots, comes apart and is eaten by worms. It eventually turns back into soil and disappears, as if it never had stood at all. The moment of its falling crash is replaced by silence and indifference. Alone on the forest floor its only witnesses are the neighboring trees who look over to be reminded that their time will soon come. They are not far behind this dead, obscure tree. 

So whether a tree falls in the middle of the woods to the roar of a crowd or simply crumples over in lonely soundlessness, either way it does not in fact make a sound.