On many days I admit that I feel depressed, days when it seems that the efforts, the struggles, and the sacrifices of so many people fighting for social and environmental justice, fighting prejudice and racism, are fighting a losing battle.
But without hope, all is lost. It is a crucial survival character that has supported our species from the time of our Stone Age ancestors. Certainly, my own improbable journey would have been impossible if I had lacked hope.
Like all people who live long enough, I have been through many dark periods and seen so much suffering. I was in New York on that terrible day in 2001. I still can remember the disbelief, the fear, the confusion as the city went quiet except the whistles of the police cars and ambulances on the streets emptied of people.
It was ten years after that day that I was introduced to the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear tree discovered a month after the collapse of the towers. All that was left was half a trunk that had been burned black, with roots that were broken and only one living branch.
She was almost sent to the dump, but the young woman who found her, Rebecca Clough, begged that the tree be given a chance. And so she went to be cared for in a nursery in the Bronx. Bringing that seriously damaged tree back to health was not an easy task, and it was touch-and-go for a while. But whenever you give her a chance, nature returns. Eventually the tree made it. In the
spring, her branches are bright with blossoms. I've seen people looking at her and wiping away tears. She is a symbol of the resilience (适应力) of nature — and a reminder of all that was lost on that terrible day 20 years ago.
The Survivor Tree, brought back from the dead, had not only put out new leaves herself but also nurtured (养育) the lives of others. Now do you understand how I dare hope?
