Respect for the fragility and importance of an individual life is still the mark of an educated man.
When I look back on my childhood I think of that short time in Beirut. I know that seeing the city collapse around me forced me to grasp something many people miss: the fragility of peace.
Everything that everyone is afraid of has already happened: The fragility of capitalism which we don't want to admit the loss of the empire of the United States and American exceptionalism. In fact American exceptionalism is that we are exceptionally backward in about fifteen different categories from education to infrastructure.
You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever it is the gateway to a middle-class life.