We have indeed come a long way since slaves built the White House. Michelle Obama celebrated great human achievements last evening. Society thrives best where there’s calming of irrational fears. “Winning” rhetoric always costs someone, somewhere, dear. And there’s been too much talk of that kind, the world over, already this year.

Keep your candle burning. Blow out the light and darkness wins. The tragedy of terrorism – in all its forms – must be set against a backdrop of greater, wider good. Wherever we can celebrate that good, hard though it be to find, we should. What a society promulgates multiplies.