Survivor Tree at 9/11 Memorial
This is a story that I really want to share with you. Last week, I heard the story of the “survivor tree”.
The callery pear tree became known as the Survivor Tree after sustaining extensive damage, but living through the September 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center. In October 2001, the tree with lifeless limbs, snapped roots and blackened trunk was discovered and freed from the piles of smoldering rubble in the plaza of the World Trade Center. The tree was originally planted in the 1970s in the vicinity of buildings four and five in the WTC complex near Church Street. The damaged tree measured eight-feet tall when it arrived in November 2001 at the Parks Department’s Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. It was nursed back to health and today has grown to a height of about 30 feet.
– 9/11 Memorial Staff
https://www.911memorial.org/blog/survivor-tree-withstood-911-attacks-returns-wtc-grow-memorial-plaza-update-x3
This tree has lived through a terrorist attack, has been blown over and uprooted after it was replanted, and then later survived the flooding of Hurricane Sandy. Today it stands approximately 30 feet tall even though it was found charred and broken. If you are living in “entrepreneurland”, you know about facing challenges. The question is are you prepared to survive anything that is thrown at you like the “survivor tree”?
Personally, I don’t think it matters what resources we have at our fingertips. The only thing that matters is if we have a will to continue. Are you willing to dig in and fight for your dream? The one thing that no one can ever take away from you is your will to continue. You will always have the choice to move forward or to stop.
I had the incredible opportunity to participate in a SWAT team tryout. Even though there is a level of physical fitness required, the real test is how strong are you mentally. Here is the most important advice I was given: “Do not stop!”
Once each challenge starts you do not stop until you have completed it. You move from challenge to challenge pushing forward. Are you willing to push through the resistance and keep moving no matter what? When your body is screaming in pain and your breathing is labored will you continue? Those who say yes and never stop are the ones who get invited to join the team.
The same goes for you the entrepreneur. Are you willing to dig in and face the challenges head on? Will you live with a belief that will carry you through the resistance? Will you be keep on surviving no matter what like the tree?
If you say yes and you never stop, you will be invited to the team of the successful.
– Catalyst John, Small Business Expert & Coach
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