introspection...

...with Wangari Maathai. Recently, I read Unbowed about the amazing and inspirational life of the recently passed nobel laureate. I think one of my greatest takeaways from this memoir is her persistence and passion. I will never forget when she spoke at my graduation and the gift that she presented to my classmates and me of a pine tree. Hopefully, the beauty and hope of her words will forever transfer and stay within me. I feel a deep connection with her, her values, connection to the earth, and dreams of progress. I wanted to share this short paragraph in her book that I loved. It resonated with me and hopefully, with you.  

These experiences of childhood are what mold us and make us who we are. How you translate the life you see, feel, smell and touch as you grow up – the water you drink, the air you breathe, and the food you eat – are what you become. When what you remember disappears, you miss it and search for it, and so it was with me. Hen I was a child, my surrounds were alive, dynamic, and inspiring. Even though I was entering a world where there were books to read and facts to learn – the cultivation of the mind –  I was still able to enjoy a world where there were no books to read, where children were told living stories about the world around them, and where cultivated the soil and imagination in equal measures.

(pg. 52) 

Truly inspiration, wise and amazing. There needs to be more women and people like her.