I'm Gretchen Ruben and this is a little happier.

I love maxims, proverbs, manifestos, mantras, teaching stories, anything that crams a big

idea into a small space, and I've always been fascinated by school modos.

The motto of my high school was freedom with responsibility.

We talked about it a lot in school, and I still find myself thinking about it to this day.

It's a great motto for anyone.

It's a great motto for the United States.

It's thought-provoking, inter-incending.

My daughter recently graduated from high school, which was a huge moment in her life, a huge

moment in my life.

As we sat in the audience watching the ceremony, above the children's heads, they had projected

on the wall the school motto, which is, go forth unafraid.

This is a phrase that's part of the school song, which is, I can't sing it, it's really

hard to sing, but part of it is, we go forth unafraid, strong with love and strong with

learning.

It's deeply embedded in the school culture.

People talk about it all the time, people make jokes about it all the time, and as I was

sitting there watching them graduate and thinking back on all the years, it hit me hard

as I looked at that motto, how much I love that motto, because that is what I want for

my child.

And it's what I want for myself too, to go forth unafraid, strong with love and strong

with learning.

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