<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Wednesday, 5:30 a.m.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I kiss my wife </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">at the foot of the stairs </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">she’s about to ascend</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to finish her sleep</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and return to my desk </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to continue my morning’s work.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We are making a brave stand.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So are you, I’m certain.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">All of us rise and live every day</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">in a world whose coherence </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">feels ever more fraught.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We are, each of us, the locus</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">of humanity’s forward motion</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">toward a brighter time, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">even though the sun </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">of that future </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">has not yet risen.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re like the birds </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">singing before dawn </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to something they </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">can’t yet see.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Day by day, </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">we walk</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">this tightrope.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">- Max Reif</span></div></body></html>