I was up the other night thinking about our country and what a mess its seems to be in, and at the risk of making a loose association, I thought of John F. Kennedy’s 1962 address at Rice University, when he said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and to do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard, . . . because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one in which we intend to win.’’

When will we be a nation of common goals, basic humanity, and the compassion that drives us to do what is right, even if it is hard?

Teresa Spillane

Boston