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People are like trees. From time-to-time life necessitates transplanting. However, both humans and trees are susceptible to a condition called transplant shock. This is a stress-related problem that can result from the inevitable loss of roots, a challenge especially prevalent in the loss of feeder roots. If this condition is not addressed or worse, goes undetected, the subject becomes increasingly vulnerable to drying up and withering away.
In people the sudden shift out of one’s social eco-system is as traumatic as uprooting a tree. Most challenging for transplanted foliage or folks alike is our feeder roots. For trees, feeder roots maintain a steady supply of essentials like life sustaining water and oxygen. For people, our feeder roots are those relationships that nourish both our personal and professional growth.
Successful transplanting from one location to another requires that our new home possess fertile ground - good soil. The normal shock of being uprooted leaves the subject in a vulnerable and temporary condition of undernourishment; a condition that is either further hampered or definitively replenished by the soil where it begins to re-root.
The evolution of a media career, as in many fields, requires seasons of migration. Today I find myself experiencing first-hand the pains of dislodging my Virginia roots while simultaneously digging into the Hammonton landscape.
No one truly knows if the relocation will be successful until they are in the ground. It has only been a few weeks since I began settling into my role as publisher here at The Gazette and searching for a home in town. But in that time, I have met many folks. Those encounters have made one thing abundantly clear…
Hammonton is good ground; soil in which Tammy and I are honored and excited to be developing roots.
I hope that our family tree bears good fruit that enhances the traditions, history, and future of this amazing community—our new home.
Craig Richards is the Publisher for The Hammonton Gazette.
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