It is a world of shocking cruelty out there. The murder of innocent kids in a school shooting…topped off by indifference and shortsightedness of the politicians who fail to do anything about it. The vast disruption and death of a pandemic…and the people who would rather deny it or pretend it doesn’t exist than try to slow its spread. The inexorable but now visible destruction of the beauty of nature…and the people who can’t clean up their trash and the companies that value profits over the future.

As we’ve said before, the thing about parenting is that it opens you up. You’re raw and vulnerable in ways you never have before. It’s a wonderful thing, except for the times that it hits you: You are raising sweet babies in a cruel world. We have this thing, these people we care about more than anything in the world…in a world that doesn’t seem to care much about anything or anyone.

What do we do? Well, we can’t despair. We can’t harden. You hear people talk about how they’re deciding not to have kids because of climate change or some other issue. Those are exactly the people who should be having kids! The people who are horrified by what’s happening out there are the people we can’t afford to give up, to disengage. We need you to keep raising sweet and kind and conscientious kids.

The stakes have never been higher.