Growing From the Broken Bits: My Favorite Tree

Democracy lessons from the forest

The first time I saw the old tree, I felt sorry for it.

Obviously once a hulking, massive specimen, now it's buckled and broken and bowed to the ground. If you can imagine a tree with a trunk so wide that it would take two (or more) people with arms outstretched to reach all the way around it, that's the size of this tree.

Unfortunately, we can't try to reach our arms all the way around it. Because this tree's trunk is no longer in one piece.

Instead, it's split in two, causing half of its branches to sink themselves into the earth on one side, and half on the other. And so what used to make up the bulk of the canopy of the tree is now at eye-level, where many hands and many years have removed bark and exposed and softened the wood underneath.

The tree has fallen apart gracefully, though, creating a sort of twisted archway that leaves plenty of room to walk around and under. The ground under the arches is grassless and well-worn.

You can climb up and through the split trunk to the other side – if you're willing to risk the spiders. There are teeny-tiny insect holes, and bits that have been hollowed out by woodpeckers. It's the home for plenty of critters.

In fact, it was as I was showing my son the various bugs and mushrooms and lichens and other living creatures that call this tree home that I first discovered the most miraculous thing about it.

Just as I had pointed out to him all of the creatures living in the tree, I pointed out how many others now grow up and around it – and together we looked up at the sky to admire the canopy above. (Well, I admired it. He humored me.)

I pointed out one particularly large example. With its thick branches and strong, straight trunk, it seemed like a good foil for the fallen, dead, twisted tree. I thought maybe we could compare the organisms living on this younger, newer tree with the ones growing on the old, dead one.

Never one to let a good teaching opportunity go to waste, together he and I started at the treetops and traced the trunk of this younger tree all the way down, to see where it was growing out of the ground.

As our eyes followed the trunk down from the sky to the earth, we could see it dip behind the fallen tree, just above the fallen tree’s branch archway. It seemed like the archway would make a perfect window for us to see where this younger tree had planted itself.

But, oddly, that wasn’t the case.

Instead, the younger tree's trunk just ... disappeared. Like a magic trick.

Where the younger tree's trunk should be, there was nothing but dirt and air.

That's so odd, I said.

We walked closer to investigate, and went through the archway to figure out where the younger tree's missing pieces had gone.

Looking from a different perspective, it was obvious.

The younger tree was growing out of the fallen one.

It isn't a younger tree at all.

It is merely part of this hulking, massive, fallen tree that – even after being split, and bent, and torn apart, and manhandled for so many years that its bark is worn and smooth – is still very much alive.

Rather than surrendering, it has found a way to grow strong from its broken bits. And after everything that has happened to it, it is still reaching for the sky.

I love that tree even more, now.

Yesterday my son and I went to check on this, our favorite, broken, tree. We had weather last week, and the park is littered with tree limbs. So I wondered how this tree fared.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we came over the crest of the hill to discover that it’s just fine. Still cradling itself in its former destruction. Still stretching toward the sun.

And as I walked around the tree, marveling at its resilience – I thought of you.

So much of our country is broken, and twisted, and splintered into pieces. It's so damaged that, looking at it from one angle, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's too far gone.

But if you look a little closer, if you change perspective, if you widen your gaze, you can see that it's very much alive. You can see people like you who are still fighting for justice, still pushing for democracy, still reaching for the sky.

To me, that's the proof that – no matter what it looks like on the outside – the lifeblood of this country is still strong. We might look a little ... scruffy.

And there's no denying the fractures, and the wounds, and the decay.

But don’t be fooled by appearances.

This isn’t the end, friend. We’re just growing strong from the broken bits.

Let’s get to work.

Actions for the Week of March 18, 2025

Friend, things may be heavy – but you can lighten that load by doing something small – a “small deed” – to bring about the world that you want to see.

In doing so we tell the world, the universe, our leaders – and most importantly, ourselves – that we will not go quietly into that good night.

I call it Action Therapy.

That’s why in each Tuesday post I share a few “small things” – usually a Small Thing to Read, a Small Event to Attend, and a Small Call to Make or Action to Take. My intention here is to give you actions you can tuck into your week with ease – and know that you’re doing something today to make tomorrow better.

Join me in doing so. It matters.

Small Event to Attend

I love Sister District’s focus on state legislatures (a cause near and dear to my heart, as you likely know!). And Sister District is hosting an event tonight at 8pm ET called Fight for Our Future: The State of the States.

From their event description: We’ll lay out our bold electoral strategy for 2025 and 2026 and share how activists like you can push back against the Trump administration's most harmful policies. With over 600 people already signed up, this is shaping up to be our biggest call yet.

RSVP here.

Small Thing(s) to Read

First, this is one of the very best explainers on Social Security I’ve ever read. It’s short and clear and debunks a lot of the “concerns” about Social Security. As it appears we’ll have to fight tooth and nail for this program (among others) this is a good one to have in your back pocket.

The Clean Little Secret of Social Security

Second, this piece in Politico did a great job of laying out the political fallout and internal debate among Democrats about last week’s CR battle. I’ll be honest that whether to support or oppose the CR was not clear cut. There were real dangers with allowing a government shutdown, which would give Trump a lot of power over what pieces of government he would and would not fund. There also wasn’t a clear way out of the shutdown once it happened. So while I did not support passing the CR as it stood, I understood the arguments for doing so.

Still. The waffling, the lack of fight and fire, and the apparent backtracking on a strategy agreed upon with House Democrats – all are very problematic. We are in an unprecedented situation right now, and we need Leader Schumer to wake up to that quickly.

Read that Politico piece here.

Small Call to Make (H/T to Rogan’s List!)

The US Postal Service is a national treasure and a public service. Over the last two decades we’ve seen a pretty concerted effort (I presume by various business interests) to get people to devalue the Post Office by claiming that it doesn’t turn a profit.

Of course it doesn’t turn a profit. It’s a government service.

Frankly, even the news reporting on the Post Office uses what I consider an improper framing – adopting DeJoy’s framing from 2021 that the Post Office “lost” $87 billion over the last 14 years.

Bottom line: if the Post Office were privatized, it would be devastating to rural America and to small businesses.

So I was happy to see our friends at Rogan’s List (a wonderful daily action list here on Substack) highlighting some actions (protests and calls) that address this critical issue.

• There is a coalition call tomorrow at 2pm eastern (sign up here.)

• There are rallies on Thursday and Sunday (more information on those below)

Rather than reinventing the wheel, I wanted to share their resources, which are excellent.

FROM ROGAN’S LIST: RALLY, CALL AGAINST A TRUMP TAKEOVER OF THE US POSTAL SERVICE

The Trump-Musk administration is demanding that the U.S. Postal Services slash 10,000 jobs, while also threatening to privatize the agency. This is going to raise prices and create new inconveniences for all Americans, but especially folks who get their medications by mail, small businesses, and rural communities. Here’s some things we can do to fight back:

• Contact our members of Congress the dismantling of the Postal Service! We can use this call tool from the American Postal Workers Union or this language from Jessica Craven. (We can also send that message directly to our reps by texting SIGN PIHJPP to 50409.)

• Join the Save The Post Office Coalition for a mass organizing call TOMORROW at 2pm by signing up here

• Attend rallies on TWO days of action this week: the American Postal Workers Union’s US Mail is Not For Sale on THURSDAY and the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Hell No! Hands Off USPS on SUNDAY

Thanks for reading, friend – I’m glad to see you here! You’re making a difference, I promise.

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