Celebrate—and Be—a Lorax
Dr. Seuss’s favorite book was The Lorax. When the story opens, the land has fallen silent. A child wanders through a gray and barren world. The Lorax steps forward and declares, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” This is no children’s tale. It is a parable for now. Few Americans today remember Roosevelt’s “Tree Army”—the Civilian Conservation Corps, born in the hunger years of 1933 and ended in the shadow of 1942. In less than a decade, three million young men planted more than three billion trees, restored wounded lands, and built the parks and pathways that still cradle our footsteps. They carved Skyline Drive along the Blue Ridge spine, raised bridges, shaped trails, and left behind a geography of hope. For more than a century, nations have understood that tending the land also tends the human spirit. Sustainability, discipline, resilience, cooperation—these are the virtues the earth teaches to those willing to work with their hands in the soil...
