Doing the math the other day, I determined I’ve been using a chainsaw for about 50 years. Over those years, saws have gotten lighter and have more safety features, but I have to say that whenever I have a running saw in my hands, I’m paying close attention to things. Other tools I own make an effort to cover up the cutting surface with guards, but not a chainsaw. High speed razor sharp teeth are spinning a few inches from my body, fast enough that any misdirection of the blade could cause serious injury or worse. Yes, I appreciate what the tool does for me and respect it by staying alert.
The other day while watching some You Tubes, I came across a picture of Elon Musk with a chainsaw in his hands. It didn’t appear to be running, which made me happy and sad at the same time. (Life can be filled with conflicting emotions). The purpose of his stage presentation was to show how he was pruning the federal bureaucracy. People on stage with him were smiling and laughing as he held the saw in the air and mimicking how he was planning to remove the livelihoods of folks with the misfortune of thinking their talents would be appreciated in the federal government. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? Just whack people as though they are saplings in the way of progress.
There are those among us that think it is funny to hold a dangerous but effective tool in the air, and joke about the casualties about to inflict with it. I did not find it funny. It made me angry. And I realized as I thought about it some more, I played right into Elon’s hands. Ted is a chump.
Elon the chain-sawyer was playing to two audiences that day. The folks in the audience that liked the thought they were inflicting pain and harm on federal workers, and people like me who deserve to be punished for being on the wrong side. I guess I always known that human mean-spiritedness existed, but had no clue how prevalent it was. And I think the analogy is pretty much spot on. No one in their right mind would start a chainsaw and begin to use it without some measure of training. My guess is Elon has never used a chainsaw to cut wood, just like he has no clue how the federal workforce operates. Yet he has been given the power to wield his weapon by a weakling congress that is afraid to stand up to a president aspiring to be a dictator.
In a way, my anger is the fault of my friends and family. They are mostly good-hearted people that would not want to hurt anyone. In fact, most people I know would roll up their sleeves and offer assistance to someone in need. The mistake I seem to have made is I assume my friends are a reasonable cross section of humanity. I now know I’ve been wrong. In fact, there appears to be a large swath of humanity that takes pleasure in making others feel discomfort. There is even a word for goading the gullible… gaslighting.
This will all eventually come out in the wash as it always does. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to plant gardens and chainsaw cull trees for firewood; and lend a helping hand when one is needed.
Thank you, Ted for this well written article. I agree with you whole-heartedly that guys like Elon (and Don) have probably never had to cut down a tree with a chainsaw. These “wimps” sure are causing a lot of havoc in the US and the world.
Comment by marj — July 20, 2025 @ 5:59 pm