I was reading an article about landscaping with moss, and this line stood out for me: "Mr. Kauffman’s research suggests that a log stripped of all moss may take 20 years to grow back fully. Leaving a third of the log untouched, however, may cut the regeneration time to 10 years." Why? Because I have a poignant memory of when I was young — probably about five or six — and walking down a suburban street with just Harlan. I can't recall exactly where this was, but the tall trees that cast the entire neighborhood in shadow even on that bright day still remain strong in my mind. And there was about five inches between the sidewalk and the curb that just had soil with thick layer of moss all the way from the corner and down the long, long block to the other corner. And I remember kicking the shit out of it. I fucking destroyed all the moss there. If you looked back, which I did at the end of our walk, all you could see into the distance were pieces of moss scattered across the sidewalk and into the street. The feeling of satisfaction of such thorough work was suddenly dashed when Harlan quipped, "You know it takes about twenty years for all of that to grow back, right?" To this day I still feel a lingering sense of guilt, knowing that when the residents came home from work or left their homes, they discovered a beautiful part of their neighborhood was annihilated thanks to the whim of a small child.