Stories of Courage: Part 1 – The Girl Who Lived on a Tree

Reading time ~5 mins

Courage is defined as “the ability to do something that frightens oneself” or “strength in the face of pain or grief.” When we talk about ‘COURAGE’, the first thing that hits our mind is the courage demonstrated by soldiers. It is especially evident when soldiers get into battle despite heavy odds stacked against them.

For instance, the brave Maratha Subhedar Tanaji Malusare and his men scaled the cliffs of Kondhana Fort in the dead of the night followed by a fierce battle to successfully recapture the ‘unconquerable’ Fort (aptly renamed ‘Sinhagad’ later in his honour). Similarly, the soldiers of the Indian Army led by Major Chandpuri, chose to stay back and were able to successfully defend their position against a significantly larger enemy force during the Battle of Longewala in the 1971 war. These are acts of exemplary courage.

However, there are literally hundreds of examples throughout history of men and women (not just from the military) who’ve demonstrated extreme courage – to do the right thing – and consequently contributed towards shaping the course of history as we know it.

In fact, upon reflection, I feel that perhaps all the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. That, to me, is ‘courage’.

I’ve had the opportunity to recently learn about two people who’ve shown extreme courage in their life. In this two-part series, I’ll try to narrate their stories.

#1 – Julia Butterfly Hill (the girl who lived on a Tree for 2 years)

In the year 1997, Pacific Lumber – a Logging Company – was razing down the Redwood Forest in Northern California at a rapid rate. In the process, it was blinded to the fact that it was chopping down trees that were over a thousand years old, causing irreversible damage to nature.

The Lumber companies would resort to a practice called “Clear Cut” in which they would chop off every tree in an area, and then the barren land would be burnt and sprayed with chemical herbicides before being replanted. Unfortunately, this practice led to a massive soil erosion (since there were no trees to hold down the soil). Not only that, but the erosion would lead to huge amounts of mud (contaminated by the chemical pollutants) getting washed downhill causing more damage.

Environmentalists were appalled at the ecological disaster and were determined to save the forest.

In order to prevent the Logging Companies from cutting down the tree, the activists would try to “Tree-Sit”. A Tree-Sit is basically where people climb up a tree and sit there with the hope that the Lumbar company would not chop down the tree with people still on top of it.

Considering the arduous task of Tree-Sit, volunteers would rotate by tree-sitting for half a day, or a day. Sometimes they would tree-sit for about 4-5 days. The people sitting on top of the trees would try to talk to media using their mobile phones. The intent was to reach out to as many people they could reach (remember – it was the pre-social media era).

Julia Hill starts her Tree-Sit

On December 10, 1997, the 22-year-old Julia Hill decided to do a two-week Tree-sit on a 1000-year-old Redwood Tree, affectionally known as Luna. During her tree-sit, Hill used solar-powered mobile phone to spread the word doing radio interviews, hosting TV crews, etc. However, her progress was limited since the media houses were not keen to flash the same news multiple times simply because they already ran it, and there was no new content for the activists to offer.

That’s when Julia thought of a bold plan – why not break the tree-sitting record, such that they get more eyes and ears to their cause?  The Tree-Sit record at the time when Julia Hill went on top of Luna was around 40-45 days.

She figured “Maybe I can Tree-Sit for 2 months?”  

The Siege

As her stay on Luna got extended, Pacific Lumber grew impatient, and tried all sorts of intimidation tactics to get her back on the ground (so they could chop off Luna). To begin with, they used a twin propeller helicopter to fly very close to where she was tree-sitting. The updraft of the chopper threw everything around Hill in a disarray, but it only made her resolve stronger.

Then they put a 24*7 security below the tree in an attempt to cut off her food supplies. That way, she will be forced to climb down of hunger (or starve to death). The Company also lit massive flood lights targeting her small 6-by-4-foot platform atop Luna, in an attempt to deprive her of sleep. They were trying to break her down physically and mentally, and in her own words “They were doing a pretty good job at it”.

Fortunately, her friends managed to get supplies to Julia by the tenth day (just when her food supplies were drying up). The siege was called off, and Julia got a small victory.

But her battle for Luna’s survival was just beginning.

How did she live?

Julia Hill lived on two 6-by-4-foot platforms with warp on top during her stay on Luna. The platforms were comparable in height of an 18 storeyed apartment in a high-rise building. Hill used to hoist up the supplies (using a rope) that her friends brought along. To keep warm, she wrapped herself tight in a sleeping bag, leaving only a small hole for breathing. She cooked her food using a single-burner propane stove and bathed from a bucket.

She spent her day giving interviews, hosting journalists, and trying to forward the cause to save the redwood trees. But mostly, she spent her time with Luna. She says she started to feel Luna and Luna was also happy in her presence.

Living atop Luna Was Not Easy

In an interview, Hill admits that the first few months of her stay were extremely difficult. She had to muster courage at every point along the way.

Two days after the siege ended, the worst storm came which lasted for as long as 18 hours. Winds of upwards of 60 km/hour were howling and they tilted her small platform to a side. It was a terrible 18 hours that she had to endure. Hill says that she had clenched her eyeballs, she had clenched her teeth, she had clenched pretty much every muscle in her body, and she was clinging on to dear life! That’s when she realized that the experience was for her to let go of all her attachments (including her physical body).

Hill says she had to be broken at every level (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual), and only then she got the courage to endure the ordeal. In her prayers, she asked the Creator to give her the strength to endure. Hill puts it beautifully when she says that she wanted to be a vessel, which can be used to do good in this world. But in order for her to be a vessel, she had to let go of all her attachments first. Because attachments make us solid, and if you are to be a vessel, you need to be emptied out to be shaped and formed.

She says, “When I climbed into the tree, I was still very attached to comfortability, I was attached to fear, to anger, to frustration, to sadness. I reached a point where I had to learn to transform or die.”

Triumph!

Finally, after a 738-day ordeal, Hill agreed to climb down from Luna after the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to preserve Luna and all other trees within the vicinity. When she got down, she said “Life is a never-ending lesson in letting go.” You can watch her video of the final descent below.

Julia Butterfly Hill lived on top of Luna for 738 days. For a perspective, that is more days than we have had the first Covid induced lockdowns disturbing life as we knew it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I want to close today’s blog with a statement from Julia Butterfly Hill herself:

“When they turned me into a celebrity or a personality, they make it seem like I’m some unattainable goal and I’m not. I’m not a superhero. I’m a human being who cares deeply about the planet and who cares deeply about all aspects of life including other human beings and I’m someone who’s willing to do everything I know to try and make this world a better place. Every one of us has that potential. And I’d say everyone has their personal tree to sit in.”

If you liked her story, you could also consider reading her book “The Legacy of Luna”.

Next week, I will post another story of courage which made a deep impression on my mind. Watch out for this space.

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