SS - Over the Edge

Over the Edge 

from "Salterlo" (Claudia Gomez) and "Bounce" (TFK)

Should I jump?


I curl my toes over the edge of the precipice. The throbbing roar from below vibrates over my skin and forces my heartbeat into a frantic rhythm.

“Better choose quick.” Sara says. Her hand squeezes mine and then she is gone, wild red hair and ripped jeans vanishing over the brink. I don’t watch her fall. For just a moment, I hate her and want her to be fatally wrong. But white heat is searing the back of my shoulders and sirens are becoming audible again over the persistent roar. I wish I had Sara’s faith. I wish I wasn’t the only coward still standing at the edge.

Sweat drips down my back. The monster I know or the monster I don’t know? Definite loss of freedom or possible loss of life? Somewhere in the back of my mind, Boswell laughs and the choice becomes easy.

I hold my breath. And jump.

Fear

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

----from disputed sources (Marianne Williamson, Nelson Mandela)