There are three sizable developments happening within a few miles from my house here in west Little Rock. All are primarily retail shopping developments, one of which is to be the largest shopping center in Little Rock. It will include a number of restaurants which, I must admit, I’m excited about (since I’m a big fan of food.)

I drive be two of these every day as I take my daughter to school and drive to work. And with each trip by these areas, I try to remember what was there just a few months ago. But it’s getting harder to recall what it looked like, what with all the trees gone and so much earth having been moved around.

As I watch large machines at work each day as I pass by, I wonder more and more if it is a good thing. The city grows (mostly west), more land is cleared for more homes and more retail that we deem necessary for life in Little Rock. All the while, there are fewer and fewer places to find grass and trees.

One of my favorite songs from this year is from Mark Erelli’s album Hope & Other Casualties. I usually think of it now when I see trees being removed and land being cleared, and so it’s been in my thoughts often over the last few months. Here are the lyrics:

Imaginary Wars
Mark Erelli

Behind the house where I lived
Back when I was a kid
I played G.I. Joe beneath the tall pine trees
I’d fight imaginary wars
‘Til my mom called from our back porch
And I’d come home covered in that pine pitch
From my head down to my knees

Too big to wrap my arms around
Surely older than I could count
Must have been there since the Mayflower crossed the sea
They’d been through blizzards and hurricanes
Summer droughts and freezing rain
Them pines would live forever
At least that’s how it seemed to me

Chorus:
Now what’s become of the old pine woods
It’s all gone and there’s a brand new neighborhood
All for a buck they cut down all those trees
They subdivided all of my fondest memories

When those trucks came for my woods
I did everything I could
And it was war for real when school let out that June
I ripped down flags and I pulled up stakes
But what difference can one boy make
Them pines still fell like thunder on a summer afternoon

Chorus

And I never became friends
With the families that moved in
They were different from us or so it seemed
I grew up and moved away
I just go home on holidays
But those tall and tangled pines
They’re still falling in my dreams

We all want the greenest lawn
And a country club where we belong
And an SUV to get us there in style
But we don’t keep track of what we’ve lost
We can’t calculate the cost
When there’s no place left for a boy’s
Imagination to run wild

So what’s become of the old pine woods
It’s all gone and it’s gone for good
All for a buck they cut down all those trees
They subdivided all of my fondest memories

We had a wooded area similar to Erelli’s down the road from my house growing up in east-central Arkansas. I don’t know if it’s still there or not, but I do know that several other areas where I used to play as a child are now populated by homes and businesses. Since my parents no longer live there, I haven’t been back in years, but I suspect there are now other significant changes in the landscape, even in a town that small.

I’ve seen a lot of advances in our society just in my lifetime. It’s really amazing, and I’m constantly in awe of things that are now possible that I would not have dreamed of 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. I think most people are.

But I wonder: are we in awe of what we have often enough, without thinking of what we could have? Are we in awe of what is there, instead of thinking about what could be there?

With all that we have gained, and continue to gain, do we ever really stop and consider what we may have lost? With each step forward we take, are we also taking steps back, so to speak? How much is need, and how much is greed? What is the effect of progress on our lives, our environment, our relationships, our families, our worldview, our future, and on and on?

I’m not suggesting that progress is in itself a bad thing. Clearly, advances in many areas (medicine comes to mind first) are very good for us. Others, perhaps not as good for us. And still others - perhaps most - really depend on what we do with them, how we use them.

There may be no definitive answer to the question of whether or not our gains outweigh our losses. It’s debatable, no doubt, and probably will be forever. Regardless, I think the effects of our progress on the earth and on each other, as well as how we use what we have, are things we must always keep in mind and reflect on as we continue passing through this world God has provided us.