I believe we all agree that, for the health of Kansas, nothing is

“I believe we all agree that, for the health of Kansas, nothing is more important than education.” These words of Kathleen Sebelius, former Governor of Kansas, shine with the quiet yet resolute wisdom of a leader who understood that a land’s truest strength does not lie in its fields, its factories, or its fortunes — but in the minds and hearts of its people. To speak of the health of Kansas is not merely to speak of the body of the state — its economy or infrastructure — but of its soul. For a community without education is like a tree without roots: it may grow for a season, but it cannot stand against the storms. Education, therefore, is not a luxury; it is the lifeblood that nourishes the spirit of a people and ensures their endurance through the ages.

Sebelius’s words were born of her time as governor, yet they carry a truth that transcends the boundaries of Kansas and the years of her service. The health of a society cannot be measured in wealth or weapons, but in the wisdom of its citizens — in their ability to think, to question, to imagine, and to build. Just as the body fails without nourishment, so too does the state decay without learning. It was for this reason that the philosophers of old — Plato, Confucius, and the great teachers of every nation — placed education at the center of civilization. For from the classroom, the temple, or the humble village schoolhouse rises the generation that will either heal the world or let it wither.

Think of Socrates, walking barefoot through the streets of Athens, questioning the youth and stirring their minds toward truth. The city he lived in was powerful and proud, yet he saw that its true sickness was ignorance — the arrogance of thinking one knows what one does not. For this he was condemned, but his teachings endured longer than the marble of the Acropolis. And in his example, we see the essence of Sebelius’s wisdom: that the health of a people is preserved not through comfort, but through knowledge and self-examination. For ignorance, left unchecked, becomes the seed of decay; education is the antidote that keeps the spirit of a nation alive.

In the land of Kansas — a place of vast prairies and enduring labor — this truth carries a special resonance. The farmers, teachers, and workers who build its communities depend not only on their hands but on their minds. To educate a child in Kansas is to strengthen the entire heartland of America. When Sebelius spoke of education as the greatest safeguard of health, she meant not only physical well-being, but also civic vitality — the moral and intellectual strength that binds people together in purpose. For a society that values learning produces citizens who care not just for themselves, but for one another. It births innovators, healers, and leaders who sustain both the land and the conscience of their community.

Consider the story of Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of former slaves who became one of the great educators of the twentieth century. She built schools with her own hands and gathered books where there were none, believing that knowledge was the surest path to freedom. “The whole world,” she said, “opened to me when I learned to read.” Her life, like Sebelius’s message, teaches that education is not merely an institution — it is an act of healing. It cures the blindness of prejudice, the sickness of despair, and the paralysis of ignorance. Where there is learning, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is strength.

Let us, then, hear this quote not as a statement of policy, but as a call to duty. For if education is the pulse of a healthy state, then its teachers are the heart that keeps it beating. To neglect them, or the schools they serve, is to wound the future. Let every parent, every citizen, and every leader remember: the books we open for our children are the bridges we build toward tomorrow. Let us invest not only in buildings and budgets, but in curiosity, creativity, and compassion — for these are the true treasures of any land.

Therefore, O people, take this truth to heart: to educate is to heal. When we nurture the minds of the young, we cleanse the sickness of ignorance and fear. When we teach with love, we strengthen the entire body of our nation. The “health of Kansas,” and of every land, depends not on what lies beneath its soil, but on what grows within its people. Let us, then, tend that inner garden with care — for in every mind awakened, a nation is renewed. And when wisdom becomes the common breath of a people, the state will not merely survive — it will thrive in harmony and strength for generations to come.