I was driving to an appointment and just had to pull over. I could not believe what I was witnessing. An older man (a grandfather) on a ladder with a chain saw removing limbs from a town tree. Dangerous, ill advised, stupid, destroying town property – these are just a few thoughts that popped into my head.

An incident waiting to happen. Photo courtesy of the author.

What made it worse was, his grandchildren were under the tree – helping? The level of stupidity, or ignorance, was astounding. If you don’t understand the potential danger of ladders, chain saws, falling limbs and traffic, you should at least be smart enough to love your grandchildren.

As we all know, tree care is incredibly dangerous, even for the best-trained and most experienced professionals. The internet is loaded with videos of homeowners doing “stupid human tricks” (all due respect to David Letterman), trying to remove their own trees. The injuries and damage you can see on a quick Google search is astounding.

Thankfully, I don’t see this very often, especially in an affluent town like Newton, Massachusetts. Maybe that’s why I was so shocked.

When I asked the man why he was removing a town tree, in an ironic twist he tried to reassure me he was just pruning the tree. With his young grandchildren picking up brush while he was cutting branches with a chain saw, I was more worried about command and response than proper pruning cuts.

In a last attempt to inject some reason into the situation, I spoke to a woman I assume was his daughter. When I tried to explain my concern, she laughed with what seemed to be a somewhat embarrassed manner. She acted like it was some type of fun activity, like they were playing wiffle ball.

Realizing I was not going to convince them to stop, I drove away with an uneasy feeling. I still wonder what the motivation was to do this. Again, I am grateful I don’t see this very often, but this was one of the most dangerous and ignorant things I have seen in a long time.

As an arborist, I have borrowed and paraphrased the defense attorney’s mantra: “If you are doing it yourself, you have a fool for a client.”

This proverb is stated to have appeared in print in the book “The Flowers of Wit,” by Henry Kett, which was first published in 1814, according to literarydevices.net. It states, “I hesitate not to pronounce, that every man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client.”

I rest my case.

David M. Anderson, CTSP and Massachusetts certified arborist, is a manager with Mayer Tree Service Inc., a 33-year TCIA member company based in Essex, Mass. He also is a member of the TCI Magazine Editorial Advisory Committee.