At the close of his second inaugural address, President Lincoln said:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

As our country reeled in the aftermath of a civil war, this president urged reconciliation.  This holiday season, nations worldwide are bearing the weight of unfathomable grief and uncertainty about what the future may bring.  This is no less true for the children in our care.  For them, the wounds may be invisible,the battle psychological, but Lincoln’s words are no less pertinent to this time.

In August, unaware of the specific threats that humanity might be facing, but equally certain that we would be facing some, I posted about the coming November—optimism is my mainstay, my touchstone; after all, I teach.  I offer it once again—now that the future is here.