Winners, losers and who cares?

To be successful is to be able to retain enthusiasm between the failures (Churchill probably said so).  Philosophy that explains how important failures are in one's ability to grow may apply to humans as  well as to any organisms on Earth.

Last week I had a chance to help one of the graduate students Dr-to-be Stephen Formel in the field element of his PhD project. While collecting mud for his glasshouse experiment we also ventured into one of the island ecosystems of Bay Jimmy - oil contaminated part of the Gulf of Mexico.  To our surprise oil-contaminated soil did not stop mangroves from establishing but what managed to kill them was the very short period of freeze that happened last winter in Louisiana. Apparently, the xylem vessel that transport water into mangroves canopy are of weak design (broad vessels with thin walls), just like pipes in the whole of New Orleans - they burst open while temperature fall below 0C (32F). The mangroves do not give up though. The inset on the photo above documents a little mangrove seedling that we found few steps away from the dead tree.

Back to humans: Last week, I witnessed the best 2018 undergraduate students being awarded under the live oak tree here at Tulane - the live oak that stands few steps away from  Darwin's oak. I run to report that none of the non-awardees showed any signs of enthusiasm depletion. That means everyone was successful! Also, team of devoted teachers asked all graduating students to stay in touch and inform regularly how they go. Wow, that's what I call a good ground for growth.