In Deo Speramus
Last weekend, we traveled to Providence, Rhode Island, to attend our relative’s graduation ceremony at Brown University. I will never forget the sound of bells and bands filling the air of the campus. Seeing proud parents and family members awaiting the entry of their beaming graduate sons and daughters was something to behold. After everyone took their seats, we spent the remainder of the ceremony listening to a number of invigorating speeches. It was a full day event unlike any grad ceremony I’ve attended in the past. The keynote speaker for the ceremony was US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Amid several years of pandemic, war, and gun violence, Pelosi called on students to “hold on to your hope” rather than descend into “apathy and despair”. Her theme reminded me of Brown University’s foundational motto inscribed on the school’s historical Van Wickle gate, In Deo Speramus , Latin for “In God We Hope”. Can you think of time in your life when you descended into apathy and despa
