The damselfly cannot hover without it, the humpback whale can’t spout. And from the moment, small and blue, we’re catapulted from womb to world our lungs make a pact with it to nourish us whether we’re awake or asleep. We need it to cross a room, a continent, to see beyond our selves. And yet we only think of it if, trapped in a lift cage, an alarm rings in the heart or if a sudden wave raises us to the crest of terror in a rowing boat. And isn’t the fear of dying the fear of failing in the…
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