We have to try.

There is immense suffering in the world. So much suffering that I don’t think I can fully capture it with pretty prose or long lists. But if you are awake and looking around, you see it.

When you open your eyes a little further you realize that almost all of this suffering is by choice. And when you close your eyes to the realities of the world, you imagine something better.

Many of you have imagined it so many times before. You’ve shared these visions over beers, dinner tables, and, if you are like me, detailed policy papers.

Yet in day-to-day life, our vision can be blurred by pragmatism. We stare down the barriers to systemic change, and our imaginations and ambitions narrow. For example, I believe in a world where all children have the resources they need to reach their full potential, but my advocacy work has been reduced to marginal increases in the state’s Child Tax Credit. While this work is important, I don’t want the system to shrink my imagination or prevent me from daring to do something bigger.

I know that real systemic change will be hard. Hell, even small changes have felt impossible. But I’m tired of begging those in power for crumbs. Even if successful, it won’t feed the village. It won’t create the world that we imagine. So at some point, we are going to have to play by different rules. We’re going to have to take bigger risks.

It will be scary. It will be uncomfortable. It will feel impossible. But we have to try.

Allow me to use myself as an example. I’m a good teacher who has a positive impact on many kids. But at some point, I will have to leave teaching and begin to organize for something bigger.

I find this terrifying. Teaching is not only where I find my sense of purpose, it’s also how I pay my bills. But I don’t want to live with regret. The future is not inevitable; we all get to shape it.

I don’t know exactly what that work will look like or when it starts (maybe it already has), but I know that I can’t keep ignoring the fire in my gut telling me to do more. Every day I see my students’ potential and the barriers they face, and I know we can do better. I’m scared, but I’m also excited. Whatever comes next, I hope you’ll be part of it too.

I’ll close with a quote from Don Quixote that has been burned in my brain since the day I read it.

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!