Bliss Park Daredevil

Thought for the Day

How we perceive things plays such a huge role in our actions that follow. Seems a rather obvious statement and yet I can think of various times when what should have been clear was not and what I did while logical to me was completely out of sync with common sense.

We’ve had a few coolish mornings in the last few weeks and it feels good. Fall is a great time of year. Our young students have re entered the halls of learning. The summer gardens are shutting down production except for squash, pumpkin and okra here in Georgia. The hummingbirds have grown even more vigilant and territorial eating nectar, natural and man made with a voracity not seen before. They have a long trip to make soon. After the heavy, energy sapping heat of summer the coolness of fall is welcome and invigorating.

Every year when the seasons begin to change I am reminded of an incident that occurred when I was a youngster, recently endowed with a new Schwin bike which I had bought with my own funds. It took place at Bliss Park about four blocks from my house.

I rode into the park and saw a group of friends gathered around some upended picnic tables. A natural curiosity drew me to the attraction. I watched long enough to see the purpose of the rearranged tables. They had fashioned a kind of ramp from the tables in order to see how far they could get their bikes to fly in the air. The idea was to ride the bike as fast as they could to the ramp. Once they reached the ramp they would disembark the bike and let it freewheel off into the wild blue yonder.

The bikes never achieved what I thought was much of a flight and the reason was quite clear to me. As the riders approached the ramp they would slow the bike as they got off with such clumsy care. I immediately thought the way to achieve maximum flight was to ride as hard and fast as possible to the ramp, jump straight up off the bike without impeding its progress. When the area was sufficiently clear I announced my intentions and waved them clear of the ramp.

I made a large circle on my bike to achieve ideal distance from the target. I pedaled hard and fast to reach maximum speed, as I approached the ramp, I steeled my body for the jump and positioned my feet on the pedal for a spring into the air. At the ramp I threw myself into the air and watched my bike fly off into the air as I came crashing down on the picnic tables completely out of control. My focus was completely on the flight of the bike. What would happen to me after I left the vehicle never occurred to me. Ouch!

The Doctor called it a herringbone fracture and put my arm in a plaster of paris cast. I wore it for what seemed a lifetime and found all kinds of creative ways of scratching the itch. I gathered satisfaction from the distance the bike flew which was far greater than anything the others had achieved.

The weakness in planning while quite obvious never settled into my character with sufficient strength to help me avoid future catastrophes that planning would have helped me avoid. On the other hand, that kind of focus is quite useful for other activities. You know which kind I am sure.

Herb Ratliff, August 20, 2012, All Rights Reserved