A few weeks ago, in the pre-dawn hours, I was driving home from the airport when the magnitude of what I saw in front of me was quite mind-blowing. Ahead of, and above, me on the overpass were two FedEx Express jets waiting for takeoff. It was the closest I had ever been to one and though I knew that FedEx Express had the world's largest jet as part of its fleet (the Boeing 777), seeing it in person was remarkable.

The sight of those jets stayed with me my entire drive home. I reflected on what it must have taken- HAD to have taken- for Fred Smith, founder of FedEx Express and parent company FedEx Corporation, to get from there to here, where there is the birth of a dream and here is the unimaginable impact on our world because of the actualization of that dream.

As I drove through the darkness that precedes morning sun I considered that FedEx Express jets are en route to their destinations while many of us are still asleep. I considered that in order to get from the birth of a dream to its maturation means toiling through the darkest hours, literally and figuratively. When most of the world is asleep, it is the dream that keeps us awake. When many have given up, it is the dream that keeps us from giving in.

FedEx Express began as the Federal Express Corporation with a fleet of 14 jets whose wingspan measured 53 feet, 6 inches. Today the fleet includes 647 aircraft, with the largest jet having a wingspan of 212 feet, 7 inches. It employs 165,000 people worldwide and in 2015 had an annual revenue of $27.2 billion. I cannot imagine our world without FedEx; I cannot imagine that our world would be so enriched if not for the realization of Mr. Smith's dream.

Keep working on the dream. On your hardest days, remember that darkness always comes before dawn. On days when it seems the dream is immaterial, imagine that our world will undoubtedly be a better place because of it.

- CJ Kirkland,