"Hope has returned."

November 6, 2026

On Wednesday, the day after the U.S. Midterm Elections, I found myself standing at the same gate at Lisbon International Airport, waiting for my flight to Boston.

I had been there the day before, too.

Half the plane had boarded when I was escorted away with about 2,500 other people as the international terminal was evacuated because of a security breach.

We were ushered back through the security checkpoint. After two and a half hours making our way through the line, my plane had left half-full.

So there I was, 24 hours later, in the same place I had stood the day before. 

I was hunched over my phone watching a CNN mashup of Jake Tapper calling the Senate races Democrats had won the day before.

About six or seven minutes into the video, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder.

I turned around.

It was a woman I had stood in the security line with the day before.

Startled, I removed one of my AirPods... 

“Are you OK?” she asked.

It was only then that I realized that a small stream of tears were gliding down my cheeks. 

The tears weren’t about a political party winning an election.

They came from somewhere else, from a deep sense of relief, I suspect.

Relief that maybe this was the turning point. Relief that possibly this would be the moment of return. I hoped that kindness, respect, inclusion, and care for one another would return to our public discourse and reclaim a central place in our public life.

As Jake Tapper continued, I thought about the people who would soon see someone like themselves represented in ways they had not before.

Keisha Lance Bottoms would make history as Georgia’s first woman governor and the first Black woman ever elected governor in the United States. Amy Acton, a victim of childhood sexual abuse, would become Ohio’s Governor. Abdul El-Sayed would become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

The newly elected Senators come from varied backgrounds…a logger from Maine, a United Methodist pastor from Kansas, a Paralympic wheelchair basketball player from Iowa, a lawyer from North Carolina, a pediatrician from South Carolina, a former professor from Ohio, and a public school teacher and nonprofit director from Texas. Their varied backgrounds bring different experiences to public service.

Watching each result had stirred something in me. I felt reminded of the qualities I have always believed, even throughout the last 10 years, that I know we share as humans…generosity, kindness, and a willingness to welcome another with open arms.

I believe that the more we know people whose lives and beliefs differ from our own, the easier it becomes to see each other as human beings doing our best, and not as categories or manufactured opponents. That is where understanding begins. And from understanding, there can be more room for kindness and inclusion.

I’m not saying anything smart when I say that public life has felt weighed down by anger, division, bigotry, and hatred in the last decade. 

It has.

I had begun to wonder whether the simple lessons we learned as children, to be kind, to show respect, to make room for others, could still guide us as adults. 

At the airport, watching the election results, I felt a blossoming of that hope returning.

The tap on my shoulder brought me back to the moment. 

I turned to her, laughed a little, refocused my eyes, smiled, and heard these words come out of my mouth as a huge smile washed over my face...

“Hope has returned.”

She smiled as broadly as I had and walked away, heading for her flight to Philadelphia. 

As teachers, we have a responsibility to help young people become kind and principled and curious and inclusive. 

We want them to think, to learn from people whose color and backgrounds are different from their own, and to contribute generously to the world around them with a kind open heart. 

We've always known this, but it's been hard for the past decade. 

I hadn’t realized how much that decade had weighed on me until that moment.

See you next week.




What Else I’m Working On... 

Effectively Supervising the Extended Essay in Any Subject- November 7th, 2026 - Once again, this workshop is filling up early this year. It is focused and practical workshop is designed to help teachers confidently navigate the updated Extended Essay framework for the Class of 2027. Together, we’ll explore what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and how to effectively guide students through both the Subject-Focused and Interdisciplinary pathways. 

Nobel Algarve Almancil - Thank you to Yovna Mewasingh and the entire IB Faculty at Nobel Algarve Almancil for the trust, camaraderie, laughter, and hard work during my visit last Monday. What a spectacular location in southern Portugal! I left feeling truly inspired and excited about our continued collaboration.

In-Person Professional Workshops - If your school would like a tailored training on the updated Extended Essay guidelines, we’d love to help—onsite at your campus or live online—just send me an email at [email protected] and we’ll work together to make it happen. 



Brad Cartwright

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