For Black Youth Family is the Lifesaver

Howard Thurman wrote about an oak tree in his childhood yard. Each autumn its leaves turned yellow and died, but sdid not fall all winter. Nothing—neither wind, storm, sleet, nor snow—dislodged these dead leaves from the apparently lifeless branches. Dr. Thurman came to understand that the business of the oak tree during the long winter was to hold on to the dead leaves before turning them loose in spring so that new buds—the growing edge—could begin to unfold. At winter's end, what wind, storm, sleet, or snow could not force off passed quietly away to become the tree's nourishment. For Black Youth Family is the Lifesaver