Reflection
On this anniversary of that tragic day, we remember how we were united in shock and pain. There were no divisions then. We did not ask what race, what religion, what political party, or what country of origin were the dead. We did not withhold our compassion for their husbands, wives, partners or children. Americans had been attacked; Americans had died; America was in mourning and rightly so. Today, we still remember them; we still honor them; we still mourn.
Yet, painfully, we have changed since then. We mourn now over the divisions, the violence, the hatreds that have surfaced since that day of national unity and are wringing the life out of us. Even as we commemorate this sad anniversary, the lines between “us” and “them” are harsher blurring our national identity.
As we commemorate this painful anniversary let us also mourn for this nation which has become unmoored from truth and reality and seems numbed out of its humanity. Let us mourn because the fragile democracy which we cherish is being frayed by self-interest and exclusive power. May the memory of those who died because of hate free us from our own hatreds. May our tears not be wasted on separation and anger but become our balm of healing.
Prayer
God of wisdom and compassion create newness out of evil. Make us instruments and agents of creation as we strive to turn challenges into opportunities and blessings for others and ourselves.
Action
Reflect on the united mourning of a nation after 9/11. Think of our response now. Where is our united public mourning for all that has happened and is happening?Where is our clarity on what is trying to destroy us? How can we each become agents of healing?Do our children and grandchildren whomwere not yet born know about and understand what happened and what we felt that day?
Suggested Reading
A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
Jeremiah 31:15
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Matthew 12:25
Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation. When man thinks only of himself, his own interests and places himself in the center, when he permits himself to be captivated by the idols of dominion and power, when he puts himself in God’s place, then all relationships are broken and everything is ruined. Then the door opens to violence, indifference and conflict. Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?
Pope Francis
As glass shattered, cement crumbled and steel melted in the inferno of senseless cruelty, the heart of humanity screamed in anguish. September 11, 2001 — a day when the evil potential of misguided ego was again exposed. While our landmarks collapsed in a cloud of smoke and debris, beneath a surge of shock and rage, something awakened in our hearts: compassion. Suddenly, our worldly obsessions faded away as we cried for the plight of others. In memory of this tragic day, let us join hands and pray for God’s grace to heal, unite and empower us to serve with love.
Unknown
No matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family… as we honor the memory of those we have lost, let us summon that spirit once more. Let us renew our sense of common purpose. And let us reaffirm the bond we share as a people: that out of many, we are one.
Barack Obama
The pictures stay with us — the fires and falling debris, and, most hauntingly, the faces. Look how young so many of them were, people who thought there would be much more time, a lot of ‘later’ when they could do all the things they really wanted to do. I grieve for their families — especially for those, like me, who haven’t found any trace of the people they loved. But I grieve even more for the people who died that day. They couldn’t know what we know now about the precious gift of time.
Cokie Roberts
If you don’t breathe the spirit of the nation, if you don’t have a fierce sense of belonging to each other, you’re not going to sacrifice for the common good.
David Brooks
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
Clarence Darrow
If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.
Sandy Dahl
Remember the hours after Sept. 11 when we came together as one! It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.
John Kerry
On America’s day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor’s hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know.
At a time when religious bigotry might have flowed freely, I saw Americans reject prejudice and embrace people of Muslim faith. That is the nation I know.
At a time when nativism could have stirred hatred and violence against people perceived as outsiders, I saw Americans reaffirm their welcome to immigrants and refugees. That is the nation I know.
At a time when some viewed the rising generation as individualistic and decadent, I saw young people embrace an ethic of service and rise to selfless action. That is the nation I know.
This is not mere nostalgia; it is the truest version of ourselves. It is what we have been — and what we can be again.”
― George W. Bush
For this milestone anniversary, some quiet contemplation in our ever-noisy world seems essential to continue processing the attacks and their aftermath, but also as a starting point to consider how we can advocate for peace in our world.
NCR Editorial Staff
Reflection
There is a profound Mystery at work in the natural world. The living, pulsing community of this living planet is constantly speaking its message. If we pause, and look, and listen, the Sacred is being revealed always and everywhere. No cathedral of stone has the same ability to reflect Holy Mystery. No choir sings God’s praise like the sounds of Earth. This is holy ground. The signs are everywhere.
Prayer
May I always respect Earth as holy ground.
Action
Attune yourself to notice and listen to Earth. Try to find some quiet space where you can reflect. Let yourself experience what it means to be a part of our natural world. Be part of the community of those who work to save our planet.
Suggested Reading
How varied are your works, O God!!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24
But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.
Job 12:7-10
The world is charged with the grandeur of God
It will flame like shining from shook foil.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Nature is the art of God.
Dante Alghieri
There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.
Wendell Berry
In every walk in with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
John Muir
The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see.
Albert Einstein
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
Rachel Carson
The earth has music for those who listen.
William Shakespeare
The earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Go outside. Don’t tell anyone and don’t bring your phone. Start walking and keep walking until you no longer know the road like the palm of your hand, because we walk the same roads day in and day out, to the bus and back home and we cease to see.
Charlotte Eriksson
BRENTWOOD, NY — Sept. 9, 2026
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y., are pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Pizzo, Ed.D., M.B.A., as Executive Director of CSJ Sponsored Schools. In this newly appointed role, Dr. Pizzo will work closely with the Board of Members, Boards of Trustees, and school leaders to advance the mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph, strengthen educational excellence, support long-term institutional sustainability, and foster collaboration across the sponsored schools.
Dr. Pizzo joins the Sisters of St. Joseph after serving as superintendent of Robbinsville Public Schools in New Jersey. His career includes many years of senior leadership on Long Island as an assistant superintendent for business and finance, and as a director, following his service as a deputy regional manager for the New York City Department of Education.
“Over the past few years, the Congregation and the Schools Strategy Project Team (SSPT) have worked diligently to ensure the vitality and flourishing of our CSJ Sponsored schools,” said S. Maria Pascuzzi, CSJ, councilor on the Leadership Team for the Sisters of St. Joseph. “That work included a lengthy search, which led us to Dr. Pizzo, a skilled and seasoned educator and administrator. We have every confidence that he will lead our schools into the future, advancing our CSJ mission and ensuring that our schools remain centers of academic excellence.”
Throughout his career, Dr. Pizzo has focused on creating exceptional learning environments for all students while recognizing the essential role of equity, opportunity, and belonging in the lives of the young people entrusted to the care of educational institutions. He has helped develop rigorous, high-quality educational programs while providing responsible stewardship of fiscal, operational, and capital resources.
Dr. Pizzo serves as education chair of the NAACP Hempstead Branch and president of Equity 4 LI Youth. He previously served as a member of the New York State Special Legislative Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. He has published articles in professional journals addressing leadership, diversity, equity, educational opportunity, student achievement, and school safety. His doctoral dissertation examined the relationship between environmental conditions and student learning.
Dr. Pizzo holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Concordia University Chicago, a Master of Business Administration and an Advanced Certificate in School District Leadership from Long Island University, and a professional certificate from Cornell University’s ILR School. He is an Education Policy Leadership Program and Fordham University Policy Fellow, and he co-authored a policy paper examining the effects of testing policies on student achievement and equity.
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ABOUT THE SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF BRENTWOOD
Founded in 1856, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood are a congregation of women religious dedicated to serving the “dear neighbor” without distinction. Their ministries span education, spirituality, sustainability, and justice, both locally and globally. Rooted in the charism of unity and reconciliation, the Sisters partner with lay collaborators and organizations to respond to the evolving needs of the times with compassion and courage.
For more information about the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood and their ministries, please visit brentwoodcsj.org.
The post Sisters of St. Joseph Welcome Patrick Pizzo as Executive Director of CSJ Sponsored Schools first appeared on Sisters of St Joseph.]]>Reflection
There has always been an intimate relationship between human beings and water. Life began in the waters and, sacred water is used in rites and ceremonies at the heart of many religions. In nature, water is beautiful, refreshing and calming; yet, its power can be frightening and destructive. Its moods react to the moon and the winds. Life is dependent on water. It nourishes life and it can destroy life. In our region, underground geologic formations called aquifers contain, transmit and yield water for our use. Water is their precious gift stored from the rain and the snow. Life cannot continue without water, yet, we have thoughtlessly used it and abused it without thought of the consequences to living creatures and the earth.
Prayer
May we not take the sustaining gift of life-giving water for granted.
Action
Be careful and not wasteful in the use of water. Become familiar with the effects of plastics and other pollutants on the oceans and other bodies of water. Consider the effects of pesticides on our drinking water especially on Long island where we rely on aquifers. Be aware of the damage of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on our drinking water.
Suggested Reading
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground.
Isaiah 44:3
You visit the earth and water it abundantly, enriching it greatly this way… You soften it with showers and bless its growth, soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.
Psalm 65:9-12
Everywhere water is a thing of beauty, gleaming in the dewdrops; singing in the summer rain; shining in the ice-gems till the leaves all seem to turn to living jewels; spreading a golden veil over the setting sun; or a white gauze around the midnight moon
John Ballantine Gough
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.
Loren Eiseley
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.
Jacques Yves Cousteau
In one drop of water are found all the secrets of all the oceans.
Kahlil Gibran
Water is the basis of life and the blue arteries of the earth! Everything in the non-marine environment depends on freshwater to survive.
Sandra Postel
In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference.
Rachel Carson
Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
We have the ability to provide clean water for every man, woman and child on the Earth. What has been lacking is the collective will to accomplish this. What are we waiting for? This is the commitment we need to make to the world, now.
Jean-Michel Cousteau
Reflection
Miriam of Nazareth abides in the circle of disciples as our sister, a poor woman of the people to whom God has done great things; a young Spirit-filled Jewish woman finding her joy in God; a woman vulnerable to violence in a patriarchal setting; a friend of God who made her own difficult choices with courage; a prophet who announced the awesome changes God’s coming would bring about in this world; …a woman with a questioning mind who pondered what God was doing in her life…She kept faith.
Truly Our Sister, Elizabeth Johnson
Prayer
Holy Mary, blessed are you among women.
Action
Reflect on the real woman Mary in the reality of her life context. What can you learn from her?
Suggested Reading
My soul magnifies the
and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
The Magnificat
Whenever we look to Mary, we come to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. In her we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves.
Pope Francis
If Christ and Jesus are the archetypes of what God is doing, Mary is the archetype of how to receive what God is doing and hand it on to others.
Richard Rohr
Mary is “truly our sister”, who as a poor and humble woman fully shared our lot.
Pope Paul VI
Mary was the first person to take the ‘way’ to enter the Kingdom of God that Christ opened, a way which is accessible to the humble, to all who trust in the word of God and endeavor to put it into practice.
–Pope Benedict XVI
Not just Mary’s face but the face of every woman is created as an imago Dei. Not just Mary’s vocation but that of every woman and man is to partner Holy Wisdom in bringing about the reign of mercy and peaceful justice.
Elizabeth Johnson
We find in Mary a woman who, like many women today, experiences fear related to her calling, finds strength and empowerment in her relationship with other women, and is emboldened to prophetically proclaim a message that inspires fear in the patriarchal powers of the world.
Natalie Webb
“…the reconstruction of Mary as a Jewish mother gradually becoming a disciple within the Jesus movement may be difficult and long-coming….But popular religious devotion does not bear this burden. People hear the gospel stories from the point of view of their own historical predicament. Mary represents to them the fullness of personhood, a paradigm of human goodness whose universality transcends time, sex, race and nationality…a guide for behavior, a hope for tomorrow, the courage to keep on going a little longer.”
Mary DeCock, BVM
Note:
Congratulations to all the Sisters of St. Joseph who today are celebrating the 50th, 60th, 70th, 75th anniversaries of their entrance into the congregation! We are grateful for your fidelity, dedication and years of service in all areas of ministry. May you continue to be blessed in the years ahead!
The post September 8 first appeared on Sisters of St Joseph.]]>Reflection
For many of us, Labor Day is the symbolic end of summer—a day for barbecues and relaxing with family and friends. These are good things, but, it is also a day when some reflection on its deeper significance might strengthen our awareness.
.The basic norm we need to consider in this is the dignity of the human person. Our faith calls us to measure how the means of production and its practices affect the human person. The concentration of privilege based in institutional relationships that distribute power and wealth inequitably does not meet our moral norms. Presently, the many immigrants who are at the base of service and agricultural industries are being judged unfairly and treated harshly. They live in fear of arrest and deportation. Yet, most are workers just trying to better their lives. We should recall the original struggles of labor to overcome unjust systems in order to achieve its basic needs and consider what has happened since. As Christians and citizens we are called to look at Labor Day from the demands of basic human justice.
Prayer
Let us pray for all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of all workers everywhere.
Action
Consider your political views and decisions in terms of your commitment to gospel justice. Reflect on how your decisions to buy serve human dignity and the common good.
Suggested Reading
Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
Deuteronomy 24:14
God is not unjust; God will not forget your work and the love you have shown as you have helped people and continue to help them.
Hebrews 6:10
For the Scripture says, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
1 Timothy 5:18
At the center of any work dynamic there should be neither capital, nor market laws nor profit, but the person, the family and their well-being, to which everything else is functional.
Pope Leo
I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflicts the world of work and business; I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice.
Pope Francis
We cannot separate what we believe from how we act in the marketplace and the broader community, for this is where we make our primary contribution to the pursuit of economic justice.
USCCB, Economic Justice for All
Central to the biblical presentation of justice is that the justice of a community is measured by its treatment of the powerless in society, most often described as the widow, the orphan, the poor and the stranger in the land…What these people have in common is their vulnerability and lack of power.
USCCB, Economic Justice for All
It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.
Barack Obama
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Martin Luther King Jr.
It is critical that the American people, and not just their financial institutions, be represented at the negotiating table.
Elizabeth Warren
For years the divide between the country’s wealthiest individuals and working families has been left unchecked and the pandemic only deepened these inequities. Unions are a critical tool for workers, particularly women and people of color, to achieve a fair and equitable workplace.
Kristan Gillibrand
I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.
John D. Rockefeller
Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:15-20
To come together for the common good is the essence of community. We move beyond ourselves to understand what is needed by all and to work together to achieve it. To gather in the name of Jesus is to gather espousing his values. As we look at the world in which we are living, we see how much this is needed and how impossible it seems. Yet, the gospel mentions “two or three”, a small number, to start to change the consciousness of the whole.
In our time we desperately need to gather together to address the challenges of global climate change, the challenges of peace between and within nations and ethnic groups, the effects of our dysfunctional political system, the fact that all people do not enjoy basic human rights, to work to end racial and ethnic discrimination, to protect people from a pandemic, from unjust imprisonment and oppression, to end trafficking, and to guarantee the rights of free speech and economic opportunity. It seems overwhelming and unreal. But change begins with a few impassioned committed people.
In our time we must gather together to put life into the radical loving vision of Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Today, if you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95
Action
Each of us can do something about one of these issues. What can you do? Are there “one or two” with whom you can gather? How can you take a first step?
Suggested Reading
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:19-20
The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
It’s when we start working together that the real healing takes place… it’s when we start spilling our sweat, and not our blood.
David Hume
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
Helen Keller
The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.
Thomas Stallkamp
We’re in this together, and if we united and we inter-culturally cooperated, then that might be the key to humanity’s survival.
Jeremy Gilley
Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.
On this shrunken globe, men can no longer live as strangers.
Adlai E. Stevenson
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.Theodore Roosevelt
When things go awry, we abruptly realize the distortion of our climate. The evening news projects clear images of tornadoes, deadly floods,and heat waves. But, we are dependent on earth not only for our bodily survival but also for the renewal of our spirits. There is an Apache Blessing that prays,” May the sun bring you new energy by day; may the moon softly restore you by night; may the rain wash away your worries; may the breeze blow new strength into your being.” It is a simple statement reminding us of our deep connection with our earth. Even if we live in the city our human bond with earth requires a piece of green, a patch of blue, the freshness of wind and the song of birds to “blow new strength into our beings”.
Prayer
May the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being.
Action
Examine your own need for the beauty of this earth. Join with those who are working to preserve our planet. The Global Catholic Climate Movement
Suggested Reading
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3-4
The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, God’s boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: Everything is a caress of God.
Pope Francis
God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world.
Paul Dirac
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Things are beautiful if you love them.
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
Jawaharlal Nehru
An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David Thoreau
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and
the stars; you have a right to be here.
Desiderata
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris Murdoch
Whoever loves and understands a garden will find contentment within.
Chinese Proverb
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains
of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and
spring after the winter.
Rachel Carson
We are grateful for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thorn bush
Is aflame with your glory.
Walter Rauschenbusch (Adapted)
Prayer
Grant us the wisdom to care for the earth and preserve it.
Help us to act now for the good of future generations and all your creatures.
Action
During this Season of Creation make a special effort to be in contact with nature. Appreciate the beauty of the natural world and all its creatures. Let it restore you. Do one specific action to oppose pollution- restrict your use of plastic, join a group to clean and reclaim a local polluted area, plant a tree, don’t use bottled water etc.
Suggested Reading
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayedlike one of these.
Matthew 5:26-34
As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family. When we destroy our forests, ravage our soil and pollute our seas, we betray that noble calling.
Pope Francis
What I know of the divine sciences and Holy Scriptures, I learned in woods and fields. I have no other masters than the beeches and the oaks.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.
Iris Murdoch
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
William Shakespeare
We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.
Albert Einstein
I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.
Aldo Leopold
If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
Laura Inglls Wilder
My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.
Michaelangelo
Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, it’s the only home we’ve ever known.
Carl Sagan
Consider trees. They send their roots into the soil and extend their branches outward. They are fixed in one place yet they reach beyond themselves. In each season they delight us with their colors, blossoms and fruits. They offer shelter to all creatures. The very process of their living gifts earth with the air we breathe. Their giving is all inclusive; there are no distinctions or favorites. Do we notice their variety and all the ways we depend on them? Can we learn by reflecting on their nature? Are we grateful? Do we preserve them?
Prayer
Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before God.
1 Chronicles:16
Action
Notice the trees in your neighborhood. See the changes as autumn approaches. Inform yourself about the environmental effects of deforestation. Check these websites: Arbor Day Foundation, Stand.earth
Suggested Reading
The fields will be lush and all that is in them and all the trees of the forest will sing.
Psalm 96:12
A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples’ character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe. … What a terrible future!
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
It has been said that trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment rooted in the ground. But they never seem so to me. I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!
John Muir
Forests … are in fact the world’s air-conditioning system—the very lungs of the planet—and help to store the largest body of freshwater on the planet … essential to produce food for our planet’s growing population. The rainforests of the world also provide the livelihoods of more than a billion of the poorest people on this Earth… In simple terms, the rainforests, which encircle the world, are our very life-support system—and we are on the verge of switching it off.
Charles, Prince of Wales
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
Robert Louis Stevenson
It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees.
Wilson Flagg
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in their way.
William Blake
What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.
Chris Maser
Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The trees are man’s best friends; but man has treated them as his worst enemies. The history of our race may be said to be the history of warfare upon the tree world. But while man has seemed to be the victor, his victories have brought upon him inevitable disasters.
Nathaniel H. Egleston
Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands. … Many of them are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects.
Edward O. Wilson
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I’ll never see a tree at all.
Ogden Nash