Oldies but Goodies

SINGAPORE--Never thought I'd find inspiration as a naturalist at a watch convention, least of all at TEMPUS, produced by luxury watch seller The Hour Glass. How wrong I was.

An independent Swiss watchmaker, Philippe Dufour, told this story: The history of Swiss watchmaking is like a thick volume missing many pages. Whenever a watchmaker retires, another page is ripped out. Nowadays managers of watch factories are financial types, good at managing the bottom line, maximizing profits. When a watchmaker gets ready to retire, they feel relieved. He was the slowest on the assembly line, the most expensive with his six weeks of vacation. They don't realize how priceless his experience and knowledge were, his care and workmanship, and they probably will not realize until he is gone.

I feel the same about ancient trees. How priceless, inspiring, taken for granted like the air we breathe, the water we drink. How financially "worthless" they are as long as they live. Thank God for a few good national parks and for those who know how to find value in such things.