Find yourself discouraged about what you, or any of us, can do? Read this very inspiring and compelling autobiography of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan woman who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. That was the first time the Nobel Committee had made the connection “between peace, sustainable management of resources, and good governance.” Wangari started the Green Belt Movement, which—despite much resistance, opposition, and some violence—has not only planted millions of trees to help restore environmental balance; it served to cultivate a grassroots understanding of, and involvement in, building democracy in Kenya and elsewhere. One of her observations speaks strongly to me, and puts a wonderful perspective on the many efforts all of us have made, sometimes together, over the years:

“What I have learned over the years is that we must be patient, persistent and committed. When we are planting trees sometimes, people will say to me, ‘I don’t want to plant this tree, because it will not grow fast enough.’ I have to keep reminding them that the trees they are cutting today were not planted by them, but by those who came before. So they must plant the trees that will benefit communities in the future. I remind them that like a seedling, with sun, good soil, and abundant rain, the roots of the future will bury themselves in the ground and a canopy of hope will reach the sky.”