The Man Who Planted Trees (French title L'homme qui plantait des arbres), also known as The Story of Elzéard Bouffier, The Most Extraordinary Character I Ever Met, and The Man Who Planted Hope and Reaped Happiness, is an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono, published in 1953.
It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps near Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century. The tale is quite short—only about 4000 words long.
The tale is narrated by a man who remains anonymous throughout (although it has been suggested the narrator may perhaps be the author Jean Giono, there is no evidence for this). The story begins in the year 1910, when this young man is undertaking a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness.
The narrator runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. The narrator finds only a dried up well, but is saved by a middle-aged shepherd who takes him to a spring he knows of.
Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. The shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away.
The narrator leaves the shepherd and returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1920, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, the man returns. He is surprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountain. The narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit Bouffier every year. Bouffier is no longer a shepherd, because he is worried about the sheep affecting his young trees, and has become a bee keeper instead.
Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled. The valley receives official protection after the First World War. (the authorities mistakenly believe that the rapid growth of this forest is a bizarre natural phenomenon, as they are unaware of Bouffier's selfless deeds), and more than 10,000 people move there, all of them unknowingly owing their happiness to Bouffier. The narrator tells one of his friends in the government the truth about the natural forest, and the friend also helps protect the forest.
The narrator visits the now very old Bouffier one last time in 1945. In a hospice in Banon, in 1947, the man who planted trees peacefully passes away.
This is a condensed version of the Vancouver WA medical kidnapping incident.
The original video can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5LzpXJc-D
https://open.lbry.com/@ForANewLiberty:8/Medical-and-Police-Tyranny-in-Vancouver-WA:b?r=AertxiesyzSxrrXhkvC89jwckci9gbVM
lbry://@ForANewLiberty#8/Medical-and-Police-Tyranny-in-Vancouver-WA#b
A 74 year old woman was held against her will because she refused to take a COVID Test. She was denied advocacy access from her daughter who had power of attorney.
The daughter called police to help rescue her apparently kidnapped mother and the police denied her access, then assulted her and pepper sprayed the crowd that was their on her mother's behalf.
Many police were on the scene, dressed in riot gear, some refused to give there names and badge numbers.
January 29th, 2021
Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Vancouver Washington
Kelly Stewart from https://www.peoplesrights.org/ is the woman behind the camera
This is a shorter version of the Jan 29th, 2021 Vancouver WA medical kidnapping incident.
The original video can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5LzpXJc-D
https://open.lbry.com/@ForANewLiberty:8/Medical-and-Police-Tyranny-in-Vancouver-WA:b?r=AertxiesyzSxrrXhkvC89jwckci9gbVM
lbry://@ForANewLiberty#8/Medical-and-Police-Tyranny-in-Vancouver-WA#b
A 74 year old woman was held against her will because she refused to take a COVID Test. She was denied advocacy access from her daughter who had power of attorney.
The daughter called police to help rescue her apparently kidnapped mother and the police denied her access, then assulted her and pepper sprayed the crowd that was their on her mother's behalf.
Many police were on the scene, dressed in riot gear, some refused to give there names and badge numbers.
January 29th, 2021
Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Vancouver Washington
Kelly Stewart from https://www.peoplesrights.org/ is the woman behind the camera
People are putting government officials on notice for their unconstitutional actions and filing claims against their surety bonds.
More info at https://bondsforthewin.com/
January 29th, 2021
Original video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5LzpXJc-D
Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital in Vancouver Washington
A 74 year old woman was held against her will because she refused to take a COVID Test. She was denied advocacy access from her daughter who had power of attorney.
The daughter called police to help rescue her apparently kidnapped mother and the police denied her access, then assaulted her and pepper sprayed the crowd that was their on her mother's behalf.
Many police were on the scene, dressed in riot gear, some refused to give there names and badge numbers.
Eventually the woman was released, but it took many hours and hundreds of people calling the hospital and sheriff's dept and 1000's of live viewers on Youtube
These people were able to get the help they needed from local citizens because they are a part of a group who stick together and know their rights.
Please learn from this, educate yourself and prepare to help others when they are in need, because the police did the exact opposite.
If it was your mom being held captive you would like your community to come to her rescue.
**Here's a breakdown of what happened**.
On the 28th Gayle Meyer was admitted into the hospital and diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, accompanied by her daughter Satin.
At 4am on the 29th Satin leaves the hospital.
Sometime on the morning of the 29th Satin returns to retrieve her mother from the hospital and is denied access.
Satin calls her friends for help.
She also calls the Clark County Sheriff's department no less than 4 times and each time was told by the sheriff's dept. that they would not respond to her cause.
After a crowd gathers and peacefully demands the release of Gayle then the Hospital calls the sheriff and they respond.
The sheriff's dept. shows up, places deputies at all entrances and talk with Satin for approx 12min.
The crowd is totally peaceful at this time.
Approx 30min after the deputies arrive Satin attempts to walk into the hospital, where she is met with strong force.
This is the only time that the crowd becomes "rowdy" and it's due to the assault upon one of it's members, who has a legal right to advocate for her mother.
The "rowdiness" quickly calms down in about 5ish minutes
The crown maintains a peaceful, yet adamant status for another 1.5hrs until Gayle's release then they go home.
Could things have been handled better? The answer to that question is always yes.
**Here are my concerns regarding the incident.**
1. Hospital **involuntarily** detains a person. (illegal)
2. Hospital **denies advocacy** from a person with **medical power of attorney** (Highly illegal)
3. Citizen calls police for help for a legitimate situation and is **denied** police assistance, more than once.
4. Citizens have to assemble to **force police to do their job**.
5. Police do not deescalate the situation through communication.
6. Police instead put on a **display of force** (further escalating the situation)
7. The police then **forcibly deny access** the patient's legal advocate from entering the building
8. The police decide to **pepper spray** a man through a door that they could easily close and keep closed. (revenge)
If the crowd did not show up, it is likely that Gayle could've been detained for weeks in **involuntary quarantine**.
It concerns me that this is **just the beginning**.