Last night, I went to the 8th Grade dinner at King Low Heywood Thomas School in Stamford. It is a private school where my ex-wife teaches and where Miranda has been attending for the past three years. They showed pictures of the students doing the things that they enjoy which made me stop and think for a moment.

By most standards, we are fairly wealthy. You have to be fairly wealthy even to own a house in Stamford, CT, and our house is particularly nice. In large part due to Amy teaching at KLHT, we’ve managed to afford to send Miranda to a nice private school. Sure, we’ve been struggling to get by financially as I spend more time working with political campaigns and non-profit organizations. Neither of which pay the good old Wall Street salaries that I got for so long.

Yet last night, as I looked at all the activities of these kids; ski trips out west, sailing, scuba diving, horseback riding and so on, I saw a lifestyle very different from my own. Sure, we’ve done a little bit of this over the past several years, but not on the scale or with the style shown in these pictures. I felt a little remorseful, a little regretful that I couldn’t provide all the opportunities to my kids that many of these kids have had.

Yet I’m also proud of what they have done. Miranda won the eight-grade class prize at KLHT. In announcing the award, Mr. Lewis said, "She understands it is alright to be different whether in dress or philosophy and as such she is very accepting to those around here. Her message of inclusivity is inspiring. This thoughtful dedication to classmates, teammates, KLHT and the greater community is exceptional.”

This message of inclusivity is in stark contrast to what we see so much of in politics today. The poor don’t trust the rich. The rich don’t trust the poor. Journalists question whether a candidate that has a nice haircut or a large house can care for the poor. I got into a discussion about that at a dinner the other day, and I asserted that those who repeat suggestions that reach people cannot care for poor people are doing our country a grave disservice.

The children at KLHT, many of whom come from much more fortunate families than mine understand that. They have been exemplars in community service. They have written letters to soldiers in Iraq. They have explored what they can do to help address the atrocities in Darfur.

If anything, they understand that the status symbols that matter are not what you wear or what your hair looks like but the content of their character. We can learn a lot from these wonderful kids.