The forensic experts poking through the wreckage of the Great 2009 Recession are reaching the conclusion, slowly but surely, that when our economy reassembles itself it will reflect a society that has been fundamentally changed by the experience. Even as economic growth reemerges, like new green shoots on a scorched forest floor, the great toppling of jobs, of consumer confidence, and of debt-bloated American dreams has lowered our sights, tempered our optimism, and turned us from borrowers into savers. The audacity of hope has met the impertinence of skepticism, and while we await the outcome of that faceoff, few of us are willing to invest much faith in the big institutions of government, finance, or commerce. Fortunately, we do have some little institutions, however, that can turn even the tightest fist of doubt into an open palm of promise.

This year, two of those little institutions are situated within five days of each other. The first took place on Wednesday, as young families all over town got up early for the first day of school. Even when the world is filled to the brim with uncertainty, there is one thing we know for sure: a good education is worth getting up before the sun, putting up with youthful moaning and groaning, and taking up the cause of discipline after a summer of slacking off. This morning institution of getting the kids off to school can steady and settle the whole day, launching parent and child alike on a hopeful course. Everyone may bring a set of problems home at the end of the day, but, like clockwork, the next morning offers itself up with the promise of possible solutions. That is the way of education.

Not all of our little institutions are hidden away in the privacy of home. On Monday, our town’s institution of putting on comfortable shoes and parading through the center of town reminds us that community is not just an abstraction, but a long string of human connections that attach the Newtown High School Marching Nighthawks to the Housatonic Antique Tractor Club and binds the thump of Mattatuck’s drums to the thump of proud hearts in the crowd. Newtown’s Labor Day Parade never fails to restore our faith in where we are headed, even if it’s just down the street.

By supporting and nurturing our little institutions, day by day, year by year, we are constantly rebuilding the world, no matter how wrecked it may seem at any given moment. They are the new green shoots on the scorched forest floor, and they are full of promise for a towering future.