Second-year veterinary and MPH student J Hunter Reed delivers a timely charge to current and future veterinarians: stand guard for these coming years, as they will bring a myriad of challenges. You will be there, and our world will need you. At the end of the day, it will not be individual knowledge that will save this planet – it will be the collective wisdom of many minds working together as a team towards one common objective: to protect Life. Wherever you are and whatever your specialty, push yourself to collaborate. It will frustrate you; it will humble you; but, most importantly, it will inspire you. And through that inspiration, I hope you come to appreciate that this world is a remarkable one – and in fact, our only one. It needs our help now more than ever, and we must work together, as one, to protect it.