Not so long ago I wrote in a Game Plan column that politics has replaced humanity in our national discourse. I find this so disheartening that if I actually let myself think about it too much it makes me queasy. I love spirited disagreement, but the kind of divisiveness we have now bothers me to my core.

When I voiced this to a college student I respect very much, she nodded vigorously. “Yes, I totally agree,” she said.

Yes, blessedly the smartest of the young among us seem to get that. Change is about rising above partisanship and looking at the big picture.

And that brings me to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to the Newark public school system. Of course I am thankful that his generosity will bring forth an opportunity for transformative change for children in the state that has always been my home. But my gratitude extends well beyond that.

Both on The Oprah Winfrey Show and during a press conference last weekend, watching Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, vow to unite in this opportunity for Newark schools felt like a breath of fresh air. Call me naïve in this age of politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouths, but I believed them.

More importantly, so did Zuckerberg. You don’t commit that kind of cash to such a specific cause if not for the feeling that someone trustworthy will be shepherding it. Especially when you explicitly state that you plan on continuing to run your own crazy busy company and will not be hands-on with said project.

Booker and Christie made it clear several times this is about the children. There is a lot to be decided, for sure, but what they’re working with is almost a clean slate and isn’t there something heady about that? While reading The New York Times Style Magazine last weekend, a quote from a man in Linda Yablonsky’s story about how the creative community is transforming Detroit struck me as clarifying here as well.

“There’s something about the desolation that makes it easier to do something different,” said Levin Millross, a performance artist and member of the cultural underground. “And it’s empowering.”

Undoubtedly the detractors -- of Zuckerberg’s intent, of the fruitlessness of pouring money into Newark, etc. -- will continue their schadenfreude fest. Who cares? For anyone questioning if there is even hope for the neediest children in our cities, so many of whom have been witness to regular violence and addiction, I respond with these simple words: Waiting for Superman. Watch the five children featured in the film and see what it’s like for loving parents to desire a quality education for their offspring knowing the odds are stacked against them because of where they live. I would not want to be the one to tell Daisy, a spirited Los Angeles fifth grader, that medical school is beyond her reach because she’s not worth the investment.

Among the disturbing statistics about where the United States ranks among other developing countries in science (21st) and math (25th), was this one: By 2020, only an estimated 50 million Americans will be qualified to fill 123 million highly skilled, highly paid jobs. That puts a whole new spin on unemployment, doesn’t it?

Yet it was the anecdotal portions that hit my emotions the hardest. The film shows the cold reality of sitting in a room hoping your child’s number gets called in a charter school lottery that is statistically stacked against you. It is brought to life for anyone -- like me -- who was ignorant of how anxiety-producing that process is. Oddly, it also felt like a speck of light seeping into the darkness, for if we know the charter schools formula is working, that is something.

“In 1999, when I made The First Year, the problems in our public schools felt hopeless,” Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim says on the film’s Web site (http://film.waitingforsuperman.com/). “But now there are reformers out there who are defying the odds and proving it’s entirely possible to create outstanding schools even in the most troubled neighborhoods.”

Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, is prominently featured in Waiting for Superman and his honesty sets the tone. It was jarring for him to find out as a child living in the South Bronx that Superman didn’t exist and wouldn’t be coming by to save him. As an adult, equipped with a master’s degree from the Harvard School of Education, he figured he needed a few years to straighten out the nation’s education system but realized it took him three years just to become a good teacher.

The film makes a clear distinction between the value of quality teachers and the hindrance their unions have become to bringing sweeping change to a broken system. It talks about schools dubbed as “dropout factories” and notes that those kids are not dropping out to “write screenplays.” It points out the political reality of all the union money pouring into mostly Democratic coffers.

Again, this is what makes Zuckerberg’s gift to Newark all the more special. It transcends that and opens the challenge to execute a plan with that sustained bipartisan conviction. According to Gov. Christie at last week’s press conference, what he and Mayor Booker would like to hear now is this:

“How can I help? How can I bring about change?”

Humanity, back on the table. How sweet it is.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.