The world we build tomorrow is born in the stories we tell our

“The world we build tomorrow is born in the stories we tell our children today. Politics moves the pieces. Education changes the game.” — Jonathan Sacks

In the quiet chambers of wisdom, where the echoes of truth never fade, these words by Jonathan Sacks rise like a call from eternity. He spoke not merely of nations and classrooms, but of the shaping of souls, of how civilizations are born not in marble halls or parliaments, but in the tender hearts of children listening to the stories of their elders. For it is from the stories we tell — of courage and compassion, of justice and mercy — that the blueprint of tomorrow is drawn. Long before men build cities, they dream of them; long before laws are written, values are spoken. The tale precedes the triumph.

Once, in the deserts of the ancient world, a tribe wandered for forty years, led by a prophet named Moses. He did not teach them the art of empire, nor arm them with swords, nor instruct them in politics. Instead, he gave them stories — stories of faith, of deliverance, of a covenant between man and God. Those stories became the foundation of a people who endured when empires crumbled to dust. The walls of Babylon fell; Rome turned to ruin. But the stories of Israel lived on. Why? Because education, not politics, changes the game. Politics builds power; education builds people. And it is people — not power — who shape the world that follows.

Each generation inherits a garden — some overgrown with weeds of forgetfulness, others rich with the seeds of memory. The stories we tell our children are the seeds we plant in that soil. If we fill their ears with cynicism and bitterness, they will reap despair. But if we whisper to them of honor, hope, and love — if we show them that virtue still has meaning — they will grow into builders of light. For what is a nation but a collection of stories agreed upon, believed in, and lived out?

There was a time, not long ago, when a small island nation stood alone against the darkness. In the year 1940, when the world trembled before tyranny, Winston Churchill did not rally his people with politics. He rallied them with words — stories of courage and destiny, of a people who “would never surrender.” Those words became more powerful than weapons. They turned ordinary citizens into heroes, shopkeepers into sentinels, and fear into fire. The world we inherited from that war was not built merely by armies or votes, but by the education of spirit that those words inspired.

Jonathan Sacks saw what the ancients always knew: that politics moves the pieces, rearranging the visible order of things, but education changes the game, transforming the invisible — the hearts, minds, and dreams of humanity. A law may command obedience, but only learning inspires conviction. Governments rise and fall, but a lesson deeply learned can outlive centuries. This is why tyrants fear teachers more than armies, and why the wise invest in schools, libraries, and storytellers. For the future belongs not to those who command the present, but to those who shape the imagination of the next generation.

Thus, let us speak carefully when we speak to the young. Let our words carry truth, not bitterness; vision, not vanity. Tell them of heroes who loved peace more than victory, who gave more than they took, who built bridges where others raised walls. Teach them that wisdom is not the memorizing of facts, but the courage to seek understanding. And let education not be the mere learning of trades, but the cultivation of souls.

Remember this, O seeker of wisdom: the world is always being born anew in the minds of children. What they dream will become the destiny of nations. Therefore, tend their dreams. Tell them stories that lift, not lower; that unite, not divide. For when the noise of politics fades, when the clamor of kings grows silent, it is the educated heart that endures — reshaping the world in gentleness and light.

So let this teaching be written in your heart: Teach well. Speak well. Believe well. For the stories you tell today shall become the world your children awaken to tomorrow. And in that sacred exchange between past and future, between the spoken word and the awakened mind, the true game of humanity is forever changed.