In the morning, we’ll stop at Wawa or Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee rather than taking the time to make it. Our homes are stocked with bottled water instead of reusable water bottles. We opt for the elevator over the stairs. We participate in the fundraiser walks for cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s, but won’t take thirty minutes out of our day for exercise which can prevent these ills.
Pollution, obesity and disease are all inconvenient truths. Most people choose to ignore these truths because they are always looking for the easy way out. It is not convenient to admit when we are wrong. It is much easier to place the blame on another or to make excuses for our faults.
I sat down last night and hand wrote a letter to an old friend, someone who was in my life for many years, someone who I felt was owed an apology.
Apologies aren't always convenient, but they are the right thing to do.
I work part-time at Ironwood Outdoor Center from March to November. The high-ropes course consists of three climbing elements, the flying squirrel (a giant swing) and a zip line.
On the days when I work the zip line tower I stand on a platform forty feet in the air and wait for participants to climb the "telephone pole" at which point I clip them into the zip and send them on their way.
Seldom is the zip line met with a lukewarm reception. People either have no reservations or they are scared to death. Either way, most of them end up on the tower standing next to me.
Yesterday, my last participant sat frozen on the tower for nearly 10 minutes before deciding that she was too scared to proceed. It was at this point that I explained that she had two options...she could take the easy way down on the zip line...she could take the hard way down repelling off the pole she had just climbed. She sat there for a few moments, riddled with fear and then stood up. "She wants to come down the hard way" I yelled to my co-worker on the ground. "No, no I don't, I'll do it, just give me a minute." She sat back down and was off in 3-2-1.
It's funny, how, when faced with fear, we tend to look for the easy way out.
