We’ve been talking a lot about the USPS around our house these days, mainly because we have been using the USPS a lot around our house these days, sending and receiving cards and packages. It’s been really nice to hear from others, as we have a collection of friends and family spanning the whole US of A. From California to Massachusetts, we know people who live in small towns in the Ozark Mountains and people who fight the traffic on the California 101 everyday. It’s been a wonderful experience to stay connected to these people, in a good, solid, dependable way. Enter the United States Postal Service.

I know, I know our president doesn’t like the USPS. I know he doesn’t like it because it “doesn’t make money,” but if given the opportunity to stand across from Trump I’d try to explain to him what I explained to my 11-year-old, the USPS isn’t supposed to make money. It’s a service. It’s goal is to keep our country connected. It’s steadfast. It’s simple. It’s necessary, now more than ever. I wouldn’t expect our president to understand, but my son caught on pretty quickly and started thinking up ways to “Save the USPS.”

His first idea, do away with stamps. Instead, go electronic. He knows the value of a handwritten card, he doesn’t want us to stop writing letters and cards, but he does think there are better, more advanced ways to send, track, and receive envelopes and packages. Like most kids in his generation, he’s geared toward saving the environment, towards make things easier, saving time, because even as a fifth grade he recognizes that your time has a value, and the value is high.

This morning we talked at length about barcodes, and mailboxes that connect to your home’s wifi. We talked about saving jobs, because there are so many jobs that need saving in the USPS. We discussed his ideas, which ones seemed feasible, and which needed some research. We made the USPS his research project for next week.

While we were talking, it occurred to me how his generation would change this world. How they will make the world better. Smarter. Safer. I have so much faith in them, and we all should.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Those are the words the Marine Corps. And also the motto of my son’s fifth grade class. And it’s working to shape a whole generation.

M.