Jumper

A few days ago, I stood at the edge of a cliff. I stared into the distance and wondered on what the people who lived there so long ago thought about in the place I stood. I crouched and peered down to ground below, where I had dropped my water bottle. I was waiting for a friend to circle the cliff and wait for me at the bottom. I planned to slide down the cliff and hopefully land unscathed at the bottom.

The friend on whom I was waiting had once tried the same thing. He had slid faster than he imagined he was going to, hit the rocks near the bottom and tumbled the rest of the way down the cliff. He didn’t break anything but he was hurt. He asked me to wait at the top until he circled around and could catch me if I too, slid to quickly.

While he was walking around, being who I am, it certainly crossed my mind to slide down rather than wait, but wait I did. He got to the place we expected me to land and I began my slide. I was wearing crocs and was not prepared for the amount of speed I would gain so quickly on my decent. When I hit the bottom with my feet, I hit my shoulder into the cliff wall to slow myself. It wasn’t enough to stop me. Thankfully, he was there to catch me or I certainly may have shared his previous fate.

It is a rare thing to find a friend who is there to catch you when you fall. It is a rare person indeed who will teach from their failings without pretense but with a genuine concern for another. I am lucky to have such a good friend.

I recognize how difficult it is to be in certain positions in life. I know that at times, the struggle does not seem worth the results. The simple fact is, the world needs heroes, it needs good people. We don’t get spider man or superman, we get good men and women. We get good friends to comfort us, to talk to without judgment. We get good times and video games. We get nights out at bars with people that you know have your back. We get to treat others how we would like to be treated, even if we aren’t treated so well. Good people get to sit back with the simple knowledge, that no matter what anyone would have done for them, they did the right thing. Some times that hurts but they have the strength to over come. My friend, you have the strength to over come.

No matter what else, you have been a good friend and have shown me a person that does more good than harm. I have met a person that would be a good person, even in a world without consequence. I said in another post that I have confused kindness for weakness in my life. I have admitted how wrong I was and I hope that you know the difference as well. Thanks for all you do.