It’s before 8:00am and all things seem possible. Before 8:00am there’s no hatred; the mean, vicious and small minded all sleep in. Before 8:00am no one wears a face mask, fear is still in bed. While greed heads dream of more and more and more, the earth awakens and begins to shed its comforting blanket of fog. Everything feels new and refreshed. I breathe in the cold morning air and exhale miniature clouds that quickly melt away. Anger and strife hide under quilts of denial while hummingbirds, newly awakened, dart from tree to feeder, feeder to tree. Before 8:00am I feel as if I could change the world for the better with just the sheer force of my will. At this time of morning there’s no judgement, everyone and everything is accepted for whom and what they are.

The day dawns slowly and deliberately, as it has done for millennia. The yellow leaves of autumn sashay slowly to the ground, landing with an inaudible sigh. Walking barefoot through the dew soaked grass is an invigorating baptism. I crunch into a freshly picked apple and savor the impossibly sweet juice as it fills my mouth. The birdbath fountain shimmers and gurgles while it awaits its first visitors of the day, usually the chestnut backed chickadees, fearless and free as I long to be.

The quiet of this peaceful autumn morning inevitably gives way to the cacophony of another day on planet Earth. In the face of an increasingly broken world, I still somehow hold on to the hope of promise and renewal. It’s before 8:00am. I refuse to give up, I refuse to give in.