She ran to the lake that she ran to when she was a child. She ran to the lake that listened to her silent prayers and comforted her with its gentle whispers of running water. She ran to the lake that flowed with her tears over countless years.

As she knelt at its bank, she found that the lake had run dry, the ground burnt to a crisp beneath the harsh sun. She smiled, cherishing the memories that floated by her thoughts like twigs in the streams nearby.

Nothing grew anymore. All was dry and bare and brown and dusty. It did not rain anymore. It did not snow. No winds blew and the sky was always a searing blue.

There were no more trees. She looked around at the pitiful landscape and imagined that creatures lived there, hidden from view. But she knew that it was too much to hope for.

The world was corrupted and everyone knew it but too many refused to accept it. The wrong people had too much money and the people that could stop the reign of chaos were kept on a leash and chained to their debts.

Then, gasping in surprise, she saw it.

Right by her knee, a single flower bloomed.

It was white and pure and fragile. She breathed on it, leaning close, taking in its fragrance and wondering how it could have survived. There was no water, there was too much sun. It should have withered long ago.

But it endured the harsh conditions that the Earth had offered it. It smiled at the scorching flames above and told itself that it was not thirsty. It defeated the evil of the world and stood strong and firm, like a giant oak hundreds of years old.

The sun beat down relentlessly upon it, but it grew.

The soil was unfertile and dry, but it grew.

The air was hot and foul, but it grew.

And so, like that flower, the girl was determined to grow. She would be the one to look to when hope ran dry like the lake before her. She would be the one to look to when hatred burned the hearts of men. She would be the one to look to for hope.

We must all be like the girl, like the flower, like the change. We must show the hopeless what hope is. We must show the weak what strength is. We must show the hateful what love is. We must show the weary what stamina is. We must be what others seek in order to grow.

I will grow.

You will grow.

We will grow until the Earth is covered in green.