Holiday Greetings!

As we enter the holiday season, our customary hopes for happiness and prosperity are tempered by concern about violence in many parts of the world and its effects on those least able to protect themselves, about the fragility of peace and civic order in many nations, and about the global economic realities that have affected all of us. Our realm of interest and concern encompasses all members of our global community — certainly in this hemisphere but also elsewhere.

In times of uncertainty and apprehension, we can perhaps best understand that the creation and transmission of powerful knowledge remains our best hope for improving the human condition and ensuring freedom.

We are grateful. As the holidays commence, Wu-Liang and I send warm season's greetings to all who care about and love this planet and its people.