It's that time of year again--kids are going back to school, last trips to the beach are being taken, and mornings here and there are beginning to feel a tinge of crisp coolness (at least in Raleigh). Fall is coming. And with it comes an increase in planning. With the kids going back to school, conversations may begin (or restart) about taking them out of the public school system, or putting them back in. Perhaps college is around the corner and there are worries about paying for it. We start thinking about holidays and whether or not we'll travel, and if so, for how long and with whom? We brace for the increased busyness at work, some of us with an excitement and eagerness, and others of us with dread. The former start to question if they'll ever want to retire, and the latter wonder how soon they can.

Talk of tapering the Fed's $85 billion monthly purchase of bonds and saber rattling over the claimed use of chemical weapons on civilians by Syria's government put a damper on stocks in August and risks worsening our struggling economy.

We are beneficiaries of the wealthiest nation in the world. But no matter how intentional we try to be, we still take for granted the countless common conveniences that were unimaginable or wildly extravagant not so many years ago. And despite our boundless resources, education systems, capital, enabling technologies, and the conveniences that make them all work for us, seems we are able to find precious little time to pursue our highest and our best purposes.