Zero visibility possible,
you read aloud. The logic’s water-tight:
there’s always a good chance for lack of sight.
We left late. This valley’s crossable
on good days, but today, the signs are flashing
Dust storms may exist. Or they may not.
Mirages shimmer like our love, caught
somewhere out there just below being.
Is there nothing here to see, or can
nothing be seen?
So we drive on, enmeshed
in what may not exist, our baffled flesh
tumbling down this road that hope began.
In zero visibility, we gaze
into the hazy now and then and always.
—J. C. Scharl
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
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