Beneath the Surface

by M. Joseph Boehler

within our days, a leader is made not by wealth or title,

but by the steady beat of conviction hidden in unseen hands.

when we choose to consider—and raise—another,

barriers dissolve into rivers that carve new routes,

and the landscape of possibility expands.

our responsibility becomes true north,

and strength is gauged by lives we set alight,

and the dormant talents we coax into bloom.

so the legacy we leave is not tallied in applauses or riches,

but inscribed in the hearts we stir,

and the horizons we help others reach.