This is a remarkable essay. The best. You are the best. A lot of times when I read something this good on Medium I think, “I wish this could get published in the…” but I don’t think that with this piece. Anything that clouded the directness of your expression or muddied the ownership of the voice would disfigure this post’s beauty.

What I do wish is that millions…. and I really mean millions… of people could read this. I would want them to read it in the context of the other things you have posted on Medium.

I generally think its a mistake to sublimate identity to a cause or forswear individual freedom in order to belong to a group, but, as you point out here, I can’t deny that both institutional and personality cults get a lot done. I want my doctors to be doctors, my cops to be cops, and the chef to be a chef. I learned long ago that if I don’t act like a teacher, kids don’t know how to act like students. We are shaped by institutions and we, in turn, shape them. How do we sustain and support institutions without handing down the error of the past?

In education, the answer has been to close under-performing schools. That strategy has failed New York City. Sometimes police forces get closed. The only one I can think of is in Camden, NJ. It was disbanded mostly for financial reasons. We don’t have the luxury of “starting fresh”. Our American history is our history. We can’t pick up and move West again. We have no choice but to try to evolve.

How do we create better institutions? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that without people like you and your sister we have even less of a chance at success.