The Human Spirit

It was a year of remembrance for friends lost and nations wounded. Flight attendants thought of their colleagues murdered on Sept. 11, 2001; on that dark day's anniversary, people held up flags, just because it seemed the right thing to do. But 2002 was also marked by the triumph of determination over adversity. In a ruined city, a small girl played with giant balloons; in a graveyard, a boy fashioned a swing from the branch of a tree. A Pennsylvania miner emerged from the dank earth, rescued in a near miracle after being trapped by an underground flood. In a personification of guts and glory, a football player thundered in the snow of January. And lost in his dreams, a boy rose above the silent confines of autism.