The Blooming of the Cherry Blossoms, a Yearly Reminder We Have an Obligation to do Our Part

Marlene.Sampson | March 26, 2023, 7:01 p.m.

Following my latest visit to Chili's bar and grill (it was mostly the bar this time), I found myself be-founded (combination of befuddled and dumbfounded probably) by the substantial news that graced the screen of my iPhone 12 mini. The time of the year has come as always to celebrate the blooming of the cherry blossom trees across the metro DC area and much to my surprise the attendance this year for the first weekend was a historically record low. “So what?” you may say to yourself. “They’re just trees”' you exclaim in your head. “Could people not looking at them really impact anything?”. That’s finally a useful and valid point you just brought up there, so let’s dive into it.

I’ve never been one myself to attend the festivities of the late March to mid April time frame but even still, I make it a priority to follow the event very closely for situations just like the ones that have come about this year. To put a little perspective on the gravity of this yearly event let’s take a brief dive into the past.

In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo (the city in Japan) gifted the city of DC 3,020 cherry trees. The president’s wife (Nellie Taft) then planted them and our relationship with the great country across the pacific has been roses ever since [A lesser known fact among all this is that the initial batch of trees sent over by Japan was only 2,000 and were found by the US Department of Agriculture to be infested with bugs, leading to all 2,000 trees to being burned (overall great global diplomacy by Japan by one and a halving down and making up for it by sending even more trees)]. Apparently our two countries have exchanged gifts every year since, with the US giving Japan dogwood trees in 1915 (unclear what the gift was from the US 30 years after that). At the end of the day though, the point still remained that because of all this, people would come to DC, and they would look at the trees, as simple as that. A four weekend event drawing 1.5 million people to the D.C. area all because of what is now 3,800 trees (I know what your thinking, only a hundred years and dem trees have been busy).

I bet you're thinking “enough history, what does this all mean then?”. That’s a fair question to ask if you read up to this point. Well to answer that we need to take a look at what the consequences may be if attendance for the festival is at an all time low (even if it actually isn’t and it is just a completely fabricated statistic that I made up to write this). As someone who prides themselves on voting through the mail, I see these circumstances as being a significant turning point in our nation's history where we will look back to find that this is where it all fell apart. If we stop visiting the trees, we stop looking at the trees. If we stop looking at the trees, then the trees go away (if a tree exists in the forest and no one’s there to look at it does it actually exist [Heisenbergs uncertain tree]). Ultimately insulting Japan and leading to the most contentious geopolitical conflict our two nations have seen in the common era.

So where does this leave us? We, as a people, owe it to our country to look at those trees. The Lorax may speak for them but we need to see for them because if we don’t then they become useless structures that cost our taxpayers over 150,000 dollars (I should note that the estimated cost to maintain a cherry tree is approximately $1,000 for its entire lifespan so that would be a total of $150,000 every 35 years give or take 5), an unjustifiable amount to pay for something that no one is looking at.

The good news is that it’s not too late, there is still time to get out there this year and take a hard look at those trees. Admire their beauty and as you admire the blooming cherries, think about the Federal Horticultural Board, the Plant Quarantine Act of 1912, and the 2,000 lives of those trees that were lost after being burned in masses by the United States Department of Agriculture.