As we joyfully welcome alumni to campus today for Homecoming, I write to wish all a wonderful Thanksgiving. As evening settles in earlier and earlier and the ground becomes deep in autumn leaves, the warmth and gentle light of our homes on a crisp Thanksgiving night shines like the love of our families into the world around us. It is in our families and closest communities that we nurture the love and goodness that form the hearts of our children. Thanksgiving is a time when we remember to make sacred that goodness and love and remind ourselves, with gratitude and reverence, of those things that are of greatest and lasting value in our lives.
That time set aside to gather together, often from far and wide, around a table lovingly prepared, ready to open our hearts with appreciation for the goodness in our lives, is so wonderful for children to experience. The certainty of the last Thursday in November, as with all the recurring seasons and cycles of our lives, makes for a growing and deep sense of trust in the larger world. Seeing oneself as part of a long and still unfolding family story gives children a grounded sense of being part of something larger and of lasting meaning.
Children who know the stories of their families and of their place in that story bring a special strength to the uncertainties that will inevitably also be a part of their lives. And giving thanks creates a sense of reverence for the goodness that people create together in a world also too often touched by inhumanity and the suffering that comes of it.
I know that I go into the very special Thanksgiving week full of gratitude for the light of the AFS community in my life. To witness daily the lively and divine spark of our children as they explore and discover the world around them is a great joy. To be in the company of teachers and staff who tend this spark with such love and genuine aspiration inspires me. And I am grateful to you as parents, alumni, students and friends who add so much to this community built of shared values and a commitment to improving the world through education.
May this start to the holiday season be full of blessings for your family and for the AFS community.