Nothing makes you consider the state of the world like having a child. As my spouse and I prepare to welcome our firstborn, I find myself taking stock of my community, my surroundings, and my intentions, wondering what kind of world my child will inherit. But wondering doesn’t change what’s possible. Changing the future saving the future—requires active participation, sacrifice, compromise, collaboration, and creativity.

The United States has yet to live up to its foundational ideals of a union where “all [people] are created equal,” and deserving of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Today, we find ourselves polarized along so many different axes—race, politics, gender—that many people have retreated to the extremes. We look at those different from us not just as others, but sometimes as enemies.