The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
-- Abraham Lincoln
-- Abraham Lincoln
When I was kid, I was fearless -- well, at least to a degree. I suppose I was no more or no less than most kids. I remember vividly one summer day when some neighborhood boys, my brother and I decided that the absolute coolest thing in the world would be to build a steep bike ramp that would allow us, upon riding that ramp, to jump higher and farther than any bike ramp we had ever built or ridden! You see, a normal bike ramp would usually measure in at a 45 degree angle. This one must have easily been 65 or 70 degrees. Had we only been a few years older (and not quite so blinded by our own stupid desires to fly like Elliot did with ET in that "barely known" movie about an ExtraTerrestrial -- I mean, he flew in that bike right in front of the moon, baby!) we likely would have known that the physics involved would most assuredly show us that this was nothing more than a kamikaze mission. But we didn't (and in reality I ask -- would it have mattered to us? -- probably not!) and so we pushed forward. Oh...and what I haven't told you is that my house, which is where this death trap of a ramp was built, rested at the very bottom of the valley of the hill that my street was built on. That's right, if you started even just a few houses up that hill, by the time you reached the section of sidewalk in front of my house you were crusing at a healthy speed that any boy worth his salt wishes and prays to experience everyday.
So, ramp built, I decided to be the guinea pig. I jumped on my bike and pedaled it quickly up the hill just a couple houses up from mine. "This should be a good test run," I thought to myself. So I began to pedal as fast I as could toward that rickety old ramp made of nothing more than a single piece of plywood and about 6 bricks. I knew this would be a defining moment if we succeded. Nine and ten year old boys all over the world would hear of our great feat and would call to hire us to come and build their local ramps. We would be paid handsomely and history would remember us as pioneers who dared to laugh in the face of failure and death and do what only "needed" to be done for boys everywhere for all time.
Ever get that feeling the split second before you do a thing that maybe this was the worst mistake you ever made? That perhaps you should have left it with the experts after all? Uh-huh. Me too. Right as my front bike tire hit that ramp. I only remember two things after that: losing track of my bike mid-air and then said bike landing on top of me after I hit the lawn less than 2 feet away (to the left of it mind you) from the aforementioned ramp. I laid there for what seemed like an eternity desperately trying to catch my breath because the wind had severely been knocked from me. I managed to push my bike off of me and stagger into the house. I tried to call out to my mom, but couldn't. I couldn't even cry. So I found the sofa in our living room and sat hoping that somehow I would be able to breathe again. All I could think was that the next day's local headlines would read "Boy Fails...and Then Dies." Needless to say I was devastated that it hadn't worked. Needless to say I finally managed to catch my breath. Perhaps needless to say, my brother and I and the other boys took a few bricks off the pile, re-propped the ramp at a much safer angle, and carried on as if the failed attempt never even occurred.
As we get older, we no longer build suicide ramps. Not because things like this still don't occur to us, but because we learn to think things through before leaping into action. But sometimes it keeps from even trying a thing. That's not to say that we shouldn't listen to that voice that says, "don't even think about it...", but how often when we should try a thing do we fail to do so simply because we're afraid of the failure itself? Especially when we know it's the right thing to do. Calling the police on a abusive neighbor. Vocalizing our principles when we know they are being offended or railed against. Standing up for what we believe even when the majority doesn't. The stripped down, bare fact is that often we don't do what we ought to because we're afraid of the reprecussions. And too often, perhaps (and I speak from personal experience) we don't try because we are afraid to fail -- or of at least looking like a fool.
So next time you're tempted to stay back do yourself a favor -- go forward and do what needs to be done. What is right. What is beneficial not simply for your benefit, but especially for others. I leave you with two masters who taught us well with their words of encouragement in this area:
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."
-- Paul the Apostle, Romans 7:14-25
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
-- Yoda, Jedi Master, The Empire Strikes Back
Until next time, may you be lifted up!
So, ramp built, I decided to be the guinea pig. I jumped on my bike and pedaled it quickly up the hill just a couple houses up from mine. "This should be a good test run," I thought to myself. So I began to pedal as fast I as could toward that rickety old ramp made of nothing more than a single piece of plywood and about 6 bricks. I knew this would be a defining moment if we succeded. Nine and ten year old boys all over the world would hear of our great feat and would call to hire us to come and build their local ramps. We would be paid handsomely and history would remember us as pioneers who dared to laugh in the face of failure and death and do what only "needed" to be done for boys everywhere for all time.
Ever get that feeling the split second before you do a thing that maybe this was the worst mistake you ever made? That perhaps you should have left it with the experts after all? Uh-huh. Me too. Right as my front bike tire hit that ramp. I only remember two things after that: losing track of my bike mid-air and then said bike landing on top of me after I hit the lawn less than 2 feet away (to the left of it mind you) from the aforementioned ramp. I laid there for what seemed like an eternity desperately trying to catch my breath because the wind had severely been knocked from me. I managed to push my bike off of me and stagger into the house. I tried to call out to my mom, but couldn't. I couldn't even cry. So I found the sofa in our living room and sat hoping that somehow I would be able to breathe again. All I could think was that the next day's local headlines would read "Boy Fails...and Then Dies." Needless to say I was devastated that it hadn't worked. Needless to say I finally managed to catch my breath. Perhaps needless to say, my brother and I and the other boys took a few bricks off the pile, re-propped the ramp at a much safer angle, and carried on as if the failed attempt never even occurred.
As we get older, we no longer build suicide ramps. Not because things like this still don't occur to us, but because we learn to think things through before leaping into action. But sometimes it keeps from even trying a thing. That's not to say that we shouldn't listen to that voice that says, "don't even think about it...", but how often when we should try a thing do we fail to do so simply because we're afraid of the failure itself? Especially when we know it's the right thing to do. Calling the police on a abusive neighbor. Vocalizing our principles when we know they are being offended or railed against. Standing up for what we believe even when the majority doesn't. The stripped down, bare fact is that often we don't do what we ought to because we're afraid of the reprecussions. And too often, perhaps (and I speak from personal experience) we don't try because we are afraid to fail -- or of at least looking like a fool.
So next time you're tempted to stay back do yourself a favor -- go forward and do what needs to be done. What is right. What is beneficial not simply for your benefit, but especially for others. I leave you with two masters who taught us well with their words of encouragement in this area:
"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."
-- Paul the Apostle, Romans 7:14-25
"Do, or do not. There is no try."
-- Yoda, Jedi Master, The Empire Strikes Back
Until next time, may you be lifted up!
No comments:
Post a Comment