THE BIG JUMP
When I was about 4 or 5 we had an old barn behind our house in Butler. It was not a big barn, but one just big enough for a buggy, a stall for horse and cow, and a loft for hay and straw. Before the days of automobiles every house had one. It was apparently in pretty bad shape, because Dad tore it down soon afterward. I remember it was the neighborhood playhouse for older kids in the neighborhood.
On one occasion, I remember being up in the loft watching some older boys jump out of the upstairs window to the ground below. It looked like such fun. I couldn’t let that kind of macho example slip by me. So I took a breath and took a very confident leap out that window. Wow! When my little feet hit the ground it jarred me silly. I remember my feet stinging and thinking to myself, ‘I’ll never do that again!’ Yet there was a sense of pride from the accomplishment.
I wish I could say I learned a valuable lesson that day, but in reality I followed many other stupid role models as the years went on. When we seek to be like someone else, its always good to remember that we’re not them. They have different gifts than we do, or, in the above case, they may just be older, bigger, or stronger. Keeping up with the Joneses rarely works.
Tell me I was not the only dumb kid by sharing a story of your own misfortune following another’s example.
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