This is a picture of my daughters’ school backpacks. It was taken on the front step of our house. It represents both the comfort and the underlying insecurity of growing up middle class. Comfort because parents can afford to provide their children with everything they need to thrive, insecurity because their children will have to make it in the world on their own merits and abilities without the cushion of wealth. The harder the children work in school and the more they achieve there, the greater their chances of making a life for themselves as adults.