“but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
– Romans 12:2b

After fifty years, I still have my high school class ring: Cicero High School, class of ’76. Of course, it no longer fits my finger, but I have kept it in a box of mementos. The ring has a very nice design and a green starburst stone that shimmers in the light. The school colors were green and gold. Quite nice!

But what really distinguishes this ring is the motto engraved on the side: the Latin phrase, A Posse Ad Esse.

When I received the ring, I had no idea what the phrase meant, and in those days, there were no resources to check. I asked one of the very intelligent girls in my class if she could translate, but her best answer was, “I think it means, from something to something.” Not much help there, so I gave up, but discovered the meaning many years later:

From Possibility to Reality

As soon-to-be high school graduates, each of us in the class of ’76 had dreams, aspirations, and desires for the future. We were young, idealistic teens (576 students in that class), all with the future on our minds. We looked forward to college, marriage, family, and making our way in the world. Therefore, the Latin phrase was certainly appropriate

The beauty of Latin is that many phrases are quite brief, but artfully written, often encouraging the reader to enjoy a few moments of contemplation and reflection. Therefore, as we consider the future yet before us, we still have time, so what will we do to move forward, ” from possibility to reality?”

© 2026 Jeffery J. Michaels / Plain English Publications
(Quotations allowed with attribution to this blog)