Ten years after 9/11 we now have a “new greatest generation” of Americans on the scene and ready to lead. It includes, of course, all the post 9/11 Afghanistan and Iraq veterans to whom Time Magazine dedicates its cover this week. Fifty-one have enrolled at Stanford with more to come. As [Stanford President] John Hennessy and [Stanford Provost] John Etchemendy say, “We are honored and proud to have many excellent current students and alumni who have served in the military.

But I see a new greatest generation that also includes equally dedicated civil servants, like those at the US Treasury who froze terrorists’ assets after 9/11 or funded new schools in Afghanistan; young entrepreneurs, who through ingenuity and hard work have been developing new products to improve peoples’ lives; and the teachers, the doctors, the engineers who are just beginning their careers.

This is the best news and the most promising.