The following story is from a former employee of the Marion County SWCD who worked for us for many years before starting his own consulting business. As we begin the holiday season it’s a good reminder to remember why the environment is important to us and how passing on this vision to the next generation can make a lifelong impact.
Listen, and I will tell you a story that happened long ago. It is a true story, it happened to me when I was just 11 years old. It happened in the Spring of 1963. I was a Boy Scout on one of our troops first camping trips. As I recall, about 20 of us had arrived in the woods of Southern Indiana,and set up camp. For some reason, I really can’t recall why, I wandered off on a path deep into the woods by myself while the other guys were cooking dinner. I soon was so far away, I could not hear the other boys, only the sounds of the forest. I began to feel very alone, but also somehow closely connected to the forest as if it was putting a spell on me. I was not scared yet, but was still a bit uneasy. You know how it is when you just feel something is about to happen. It was then that I came upon a huge tree in the forest. The bark on this tree was gray and smooth as paper. It was then that I remembered in my belt was a knife that my sister Joyce had given me for my birthday and to celebrate being a Scout. I reached down and took out that knife and thought how great it would be for me to carve and be the first to leave my name on the bark of that huge tree. I had just started pushing the knife deep into the skin of that tree to leave my mark, when I felt a presence behind me. A very large hand laid upon my right shoulder and I dropped the knife. A booming deep voice said. “Boy Scout, what are you doing ?”
I turned to look, and there, over my shoulder stood a huge giant of a man dressed in green with a big gun on his hip. I did not know what to do, or say. As I recall, I actually was trembling and dropped my knife. The booming voice spoke again, “Pick up that knife and follow me.” I was pretty small back then, and was not about to run, or do anything that would cause this giant to grab me. Instead, I did as he commanded and followed him through the woods for it seemed like hours, or more, before we came upon a road where a car was parked. I could see it was a type of policeman’s car, because it had those types of lights on it. The big man walked to the rear of the car and opened up the trunk, and again, in that booming voice “Come over here Boy Scout.” At that time , I realized he was going to put me in the trunk and take me to jail. I thought about running again, but my legs were still trembling and knew there was no way I could out run a giant. I walked over to the trunk of his car. “Look in here Boy Scout, I have something to show you.” I looked in the trunk and there I saw bundles of little trees. He took out several of the bundles and said “follow me” I followed him, and before long we came upon a lake shore where the ground was,ugly, muddy, and spilling into the lake. “I want you to plant these little trees along the shore of this lake, and I will show you how to do it.” Apparently he had earlier planned on planting those trees there by himself, because a shovel was stuck in the ground. He proceeded to show me how to plant one of those tiny trees and then another, and another, while explaining to me how the young tree trees would grow their roots into the soil and help stop the soil from eroding into this lake and nearby stream and someday tower above the lake.. After I had planted about 50 trees, he looked me in the eye, smiled for the first time, and said” Now Boy Scout, you have left a mark in the forest you can be proud of.”
He left me there, almost as quickly as he had appeared. I followed a long path back to our camp. I will never forget that day. The man I met in the forest that day left a “Mark” on me.that would outlast any I may have carved. I never saw him again.
Fast forward to 2024, because of what that “giant of a man” did for a young Boy Scout, I have spent more than 50 years in Soil and Water Conservation work. You just never know when you wander down a path where it will take you, and whom you may meet that will impact your life.
Ron Dixon
Natural Resource Consultant
