So Long, Speedwell

            Where I come from, back in Lititz, everyone who lives there knows about Speedwell Forge. Ask anyone and they will recount tales of kayaking or swimming or picnics by the water. Every local went there to fish and shoot the shit. A friend of mine lived nearby it. He lives on the wolf sanctuary that’s close to the forge. After his girlfriend dumped him, in a fit of anger, he threw all of the things she gave him into the water. A man on a riding mower tipped his machine into the edge of the water just a couple years back. The mower flipped and trapped him under the water and he drowned. So, everyone knows Speedwell Forge.

            I did some research and found out that Speedwell Forge was 500 acres of land that my town dammed up back in the 1960s. Adjacent to it, they also built a park.

            Now, Speedwell is no more.

            Because of the rains and the time that’s passed, cracks began to form in the dam. And because of the economic downfall that is happening all over the nation, the town doesn’t have the money to keep up with the cost of the dam. After the recent insane rains, the crack got worse. So the town decided the only logical thing to do was to drain the water. My brother just sent me photos of what the lake looks like now. It’s shocking to see such a change. My friend and apartment-mate who is also from my hometown was outraged when she saw the pictures. The first thing out of her mouth was, “What about the turtles? And the birds and fish and other wildlife?”

            That wasn’t even my first thought when I heard the news about the draining a few months back. My first thought was: Gee, I wonder what sort of things they’ll uncover when they drain it. But my friend had the right idea. What will happen to the wildlife? My town destroyed the land before when they flooded the area and dammed it up half a century ago. Whatever was there before was destroyed. Then wildlife moved in. Fish were stocked. Life went out. Now we’ve reversed the process. After all these animals have made their homes in that general area, we’ve destroyed their habitat once again.

            And the more I think on it, the less shocked I am about the need to drain it but the more shocked I become about my town’s audacity to play God. It’s just another case of humans leaping before they look and really weigh all the options.