Fugitive

I am a movie person. I can watch a few movies no matter what point I pick them up at. For example no matter where in "A Few Good Men" or "Shawshank Redemption" I find them on AMC OR TNT them I wyIll watch them. Usually during these movies they will advertise other movies like "The Fugitive". In that ad is the seen where he decides to jump into the water flowing over the damn. It's either that or be captured and imprisoned or worse. Life can be full of those decisions. We can ride along the edge of the guard rail in the mountains and refuse to acknowledge it and peer over the security of the railing. But nevertheless it is still there. If I don't see it, and accept the danger or freedom on the other side, it will magically be replaced with flowing pastureland again. The reality is occasionaly the plunge is the best option. If I am in a tight squeeze, and the only option I have is to hop the rail and jump, given enough time to make a somewhat rational decision I will choose the jump. That requires the ability to shove away any fears of the transition that have accumulated. It's pretty amazing what you can conquer mentally given the right circumstances. I and a group of friends went white water rafting in West Virginia on the new river. The trip takes you under the tall New River Bridge that once a year they base jump off of. The bridge itself is pretty amazing. This bridge repduced the need for the winding goat path roads that of course we had to take to get to water level. These roads are switch backs that offer very little in protection from the edge in most places. At this point my fear and anxiety of the water is growing at a steady pace. We get under way, and I begin to feel more at ease and enjoy the mental rush of the rapids. We click them off one by one. We come to a rock that is in a place where it is safe to jump off of. We exit the raft and climb up. The group begins to jump off on by on. I procrastinate and pretty soon I am the last one remaining. I get to edge and freeze again. Now I am staring into the fear of both heights and the river below. It's takes me a couple minutes but I am soon able to shove fear aside and take the plunge to water below. In reality I wasn't that high off the water, and had a life jacket on, so I was relatively safe. But if I had been chased by a bear, my fears would have been overcome a lot sooner. You have to pick your battles. If life were a linear, story book journey these escapes from danger would be unessecary. Somewhere along the way, you will be faced with these jump or no jump decisions. Some times have the luxury of life jacket, others there's the hungry momma bear on your tail. I have jumped to the river only to discover the bear turned out to be a lap dog compared to the rushing sess pool I am now in. So now what?