the death of a grand tree the birth of an idea
In the late 1800s, settlers from Europe happened upon a grove of giant sequoias near the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They marveled at the sequoia’s beauty and immensity. Then, they promptly cut one down.
As humans, we’re not a perfect species. We sometimes fall prey to short-term thinking that leads us to mismanage finite resources. The sequoia in our name is there to remind us of the precious resources our clients have entrusted to us and our mission to preserve and manage wealth. The sad demise of that mighty tree inspires our thoughtful resolve now, as it inspired others back then.
You see, there’s a happy ending to this story. In the aftermath of the destruction, lawmakers granted federal protection to the grove of giant sequoias and the Yosemite Valley. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt would take up the cause, saying in 1903:
“I hope for the preservation of the groves of giant trees simply because it would be a shame to our civilization to let them disappear.”
As faithful stewards, we live out that ideal of preservation.
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