Yes, A Bittersweet Mix Of Feelings Now . . .

I love seeing the photos on Facebook and other social media sites of all the kids going back to school.
Yes, I understand it's a bittersweet moment for kids who are mostly bored with summer but still have that dread and anxiety that settles in this time of year.
Yet for parents it's still pretty much "the most wonderful time of the year" as that old Staples commercial so amply proclaimed. Understood!

But since it's been eons since I've been the parent of school-aged kids and ages since I've been an elementary schoolteacher (not to mention a student myself) this all has a whole different meaning for me now.
I look at these kids and I see the hopes and dreams of the whole country -- all the love, yearning and investment and all the promise of tomorrow.
I may not even know them that well but their wide smiles and bright eyes speak to me and I pray for them.
And while it's anyone's guess whether many members of my generation will even be around when they finally finish school, that doesn't deprive us of a stake in their future because so much is riding on them and their families and their schools and their teachers and their communities at this critical point in our nation's history.
What kind of society will we pass on to them and what kind of America will they build on that foundation?
Hold them tight in your hearts as you let them out the door. They truly are our most precious resource.
Avanti!