We will get through this.

We will emerge different. Wiser.

Letting go of things that don’t work for us. Finding new ways.

We will endure.

The Spirit of Endurance is a famous Australian photograph by Harold Cazneaux taken in the Flinders Ranges in the thirties. Printed in the late thirties, after the Great Depression. Just after that emergence.

The photograph is flipped left to right which probably annoys so many who stand at the spot taking photographs of this famous tree and wondering why it looks so different.

Later his photograph became known as ‘Endurance’.

A universal symbol of hope, of surviving. So this particular tree is now about to live through another Great Depression.

Actually, I was looking at a ring cut through a Huon Pine in Tasmania recently that was thousands of years old. Thousands, not hundreds. The ring that identified the change in our calendar from BC to AD was clearly identified which wasn’t even near the centre. A tree that lived through so many world changes.

Trees are the ultimate symbol of survival. One of the oldest living things alive. Huon Pines easily crack 3000 years, with a stand living for over 10,000. We now know that they live as a community and pass knowledge between them to ensure their survival. So here’s a community that’s been living for over 10,000 years.

What a beautiful reminder of the spirit of Endurance.

How do they do that? They share resources, they warn each other. Hey help each other. They pool resources to fight where they can. They also know when to sacrifice. I am no expert, so I admire and find such strength in their wisdom for endurance.

Endurance. Remember the spirit of endurance.

It’s so heartening to see people start to pull together to look after each other. We don’t see it on the news, but it’s happening at grass roots levels.

The accompanying photographs are this gorgeous tree. Still alive and well. You can even see the new shoot full of life. Growing strong. It was a couple of years ago that I took my homage to Cazneaux. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf