To the Editor:
Jesse Hartheimer ’14 suggests the only meaning of “In God we hope” is a pious one and that it is appealing only to believers (“Hartheimer ’14: In rationis speramus,” Feb. 5). I have always personally interpreted our motto as more complex. Unlike putting our trust in God, our hope implies skepticism, a recognition that it may all be an “unjustified belief” born of “misplaced ... confidence” we desire to be true.
“In deo speramus” has been, for me, a call for people to act in God’s stead. Be moral, improve the world, do good work here and now. Don’t rely on the belief something else will fix the world or infuse it with meaning for you. Hope for God, but it’s nothing to count on. What better message for an institution which is supposed to be preparing students for “discharging the offices of life with usefulness and reputation”?
Jason Becker ’09 ’10AM
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