If you jump the net will be there

In 1981 Christopher Logue wrote the poem  ‘Come to the Edge’.

“Come to the edge,” he said.
“We can’t, we’re afraid!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.

“We can’t, we will fall!” they responded.
“Come to the edge,” he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
I love that poem. To me it represents Eddie Rickenbacker’s definitions of courage. ‘Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage if you are not afraid’.

The famous actress, Katherine Hepburn is purported to have been walking in a field one time when a horse drawn carriage approached her. As the carriage got closer, she realized the driver was an incredibly handsome man. The carriage stopped in front of her and the driver held out his hand as if to help her up. As the story goes. She stopped for a moment, then turned around and walked off as quickly as she could. She later said she often wondered what would have happened had she not run off but had gotten in the carriage instead.

To quote Audre Lorde, “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid”.