On Hope by John Green and "The Trees" by Philip Larkin

This video by one of my favorite authors, John Green, is one that I replay a lot. When I first got laid off from LinkedIn/Microsoft, I listened to it many times. As I failed interviews and read emails from Recruiters that say they have decided not to move forward with my application. I listened to this video too.

I love how John started this video by appreciating a leaf that had just emerged, and it was this vibrant green hue that only young leaves get.

I'm writing this blog just a few days after the Labor Day weekend. I spent the weekend preparing for interviews. For the last 4 days, I have been taking walks to Hudson Park. I noticed a few trees that began to drop leaves even though it's only September 4th. The summer of 2025 felt officially over as I stared at the few leaves that dropped from the trees.

A poem came to mind by Philip Larkin that embodied a lot of the same optimism that John had when he talked about a fresh new leaf as a work of art.

The Trees by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too,

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.