Having endured several long (and ongoing) political battles here in the United States in the wake of acrimonious and divisive national elections, with political opponents still attacking each other in speeches and ad campaigns, we could all do with a more gracious kind of talk.

Some sports analysts might have “found religion” this baseball season. The Chicago Cubs, against their century-long tradition of incompetence, played incredible baseball. They were the best team in Major League Baseball during the regular season and capped it all off with a thrilling win in game seven of the World Series. Have the Four Horsemen been unleashed? Is the Cubs’ World Series Championship a sign of the end of the world?

Deutsche Welle reports, “Spitting, hitting, shoving: Physical aggression is an everyday occurrence in schools. But a new study by the German teachers’ union shows that it is on the rise—and is even increasingly directed at teachers” (November 14, 2016). According to the article, “A 14-year-old boy chokes his male teacher with a shoelace. A mother beats up her child’s female teacher. A 15-year-old attacks four teachers with his fists.