I
intro The Fall Season “How the mighty have fallen in the thick of battle!” -2 Samuel 1:25 (HCSB) Welcome to Fall. This is the time of year where everything winds down. The weather transitions from summer’s balmy heat to winter’s bone-chilling cold, the animals migrate to warmer pastures or prepare for a hard winter, and we put on our sweaters and coats and sip on pumpkin spice lattes and apple cider. However, the highlight of the season is when the leaves change color in ruddy splendor and then make their descent into death. The falling leaves are a necessary inconvenience because a tree in winter is incapable of holding on to the weight of ice and leaves. It must let the leaves fall off and be bare to handle the winter’s ice, snow, and cold. Otherwise, it will snap under its own weight and die. Over the past few weeks, we have watched many famous men experience falls from grace which have destroyed legacies and careers due to abuses of power and, more notably, hubris. In their prime, they were oak trees masquerading as evergreens. Their leaves were able to last season after season, winter after winter, without falling off. They stood as exemplars of grandeur and the test of time. But people were too afraid to look beyond the leaves and realize that there was a problem with the trees. The trees did not want to let the leaves go. They grew bigger and grander yet unchecked until the perfect storm came and destroyed them. We are all like trees. We have a façade of pride-colored leaves that cover up our bark-covered truth. Research has shown that leaves do not just fall off; the tree chooses to cut them off until there are none left and all that is visible is the barren tree. cont’d I ssue
9 the BLUE MOUNTAIN REVIEW | 1