On March 12, Civic Spirit Day for high school took place at the New York Historical Society. Over 80 students and faculty from nine Jewish, Catholic, and Christian schools across Metropolitan New York gathered to learn about our nation’s history and explore the responsibilities and freedoms they share as citizens.
As soon as the program was over, I opened my iPhone and immediately stopped in my tracks as I heard the news about the terrorist attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, MI. Thankfully, no one was killed, but no one in that community was untouched by the fear and anxiety that stems from senseless antisemitism and hatred.
Suddenly, I realized that at the same exact moment that our diverse group of students in New York was engaged in thoughtful conversation about “Telling America’s Story”, another type of story was unfolding 600 miles away as difference was threatened by fatal force.
The tale of these two cities collided in my mind. This is not the first time such a comparison has been made, as Charles Dickens writes:
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
It was an age of wisdom; it was an age of foolishness.
It was an epoch of belief; it was an epoch of incredulity.
It was a season of light; it was a season of darkness.
It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.
There was everything before us; there was nothing before us.
At the very same moment in two different cities, two visions of society were unfolding, one seeking to build the civic bonds that hold us together, the other seeking to tear them apart.
Watching students who did not know each other at 9 am exchanging their contact information just six hours later emphasized all of the positives Dickens mentions: hope, belief, and possibilities. However, the tsunami of hatred and violence flooding our country makes any advancement of societal cohesion feel illusory.
This contrast captures what is at stake today.
As our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this responsibility becomes even more urgent. More than a national birthday, the Semiquincentennial represents our greatest opportunity to renew the civic commitments that allow our society to live together with an informed sense of common cause.
If we want the American experiment to flourish in its next chapter, we must invest in the civic education of the next generation. Civics serves to prepare the next generation to be informed and engaged citizens in their country, and in the USA that means participating in self-government. Further, the bedrock of civic education is the belief that democratic societies do not sustain themselves automatically. This requires citizens who understand their shared history, can engage one another across differences, and feel responsible for the communities they call home.
When students gather to learn together, listen to one another, and explore the responsibilities of citizenship, they strengthen the very bonds that extremists seek to tear apart. And in doing so, they help ensure that even in difficult times, “the spring of hope” will always prevail.
Charles Savenor is a rabbi and executive director of Civic Spirit, a nonpartisan organization that provides training and resources to faith-based schools across the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."