To all, may the year bring hope, happiness, and health!
To upcoming bar takers, and all facing great challenges, may you embrace that which is difficult knowing that your effort is worthwhile, your courage is great, and your persistence will be rewarded.
Thinking today about the power of great dreams, feeling humbled and grateful to those who have had the courage to speak out, to differ, to dare to paint a splendid, glorious vision of a better world.
Thinking today of a world grounded in empathy, a world of kindness and compassion.
Hoping today that we all have a dream.
Holiday lights: twinkling, brightly colored jewels. This time of year they gloriously adorn houses & trees; they transform the ordinary into the festive.
This morning, wearing a professor hat, I was moved to think of students, all students, as holiday lights, filling our future with shining brightness. People, like light, can lead us, can show us the way when it is dark. And, students are filling their minds with the learning, the growth, the challenges they need to lead through tough times. And, there will surely be tough times ahead.
Now I am thinking of all the single parents facing Christmas alone today. During these holidays, you are also leaders; you hold the light, you show the way for children who need hope to grow and thrive. But it is not be easy to create the holiday spirit alone. And holiday spirit, like every kind of positive energy, must be created. It doesn’t just descend. Many single parents approach the holiday season tired and finish exhausted.
To all who are struggling this season, I wish you strength. May you find the energy to shine as brightly as you can, and may you also find the compassion and empathy to forgive what you cannot do or provide. You can only be your best, and that must be good enough. And, if you can find some laughter, some joy, you will shine like the brightest of lights, and you will give hope to the children who are counting on you. The children are our future.
Sara J. Berman 