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A Leap of Faith

Why?  That was all she could think about as she stood looking out.  Why?  Why did she decide to go up so high?  Why did she trust that any of her friends could protect her?  Why did she decide to climb to the top?  Why?  Why?  Why?

She knew the answers of course.  Logically she knew at least.  Just like she logically knew that this was a safe activity, designed to build trust among the girl scout troop.  They wouldn't let twelve-year-olds on it if it wasn't.  She had seen almost all of her friends do it, she knew the mechanisms in place.  Logically she knew it all.  But logic doesn't calm a racing heart or rapid breathing.  It had come to that moment.  Time to jump.

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It was all part of girl scout winter encampment.  The girls in the troop looked forward to this moment every year.  They would pack up winter clothing, boots, and sleeping bags and proceed to drive to the camp up in the mountains.  It would be February and the wind would cause temperatures to plummet to ten degrees or less.  Inevitably the cold would turn them into solid ice pops.  But the girls didn't mind.  Activities would fill the day, and night would be spent huddled around a bonfire, singing corny songs and cooking (or burning) marshmallows.  It was one of the daytime activities that caught the troops eyes that day.  "Leap of Faith" it was called.  Daring.  Bravery.  A tad mysterious.  So naturally, they decided to check it out.

After walking for a bit, the girls finally came across a clearing where the "Leap of Faith" was being held.  And what they saw sent shivers of fear and thrills down their spines.  A lone telephone pole jutted out from the snow, rigged to what could only be described as a giant pulley system.  Steel rungs climbed up the pole like a ladder.  A steel cord strung along the top with a red kickball dangling from the top, and stretched out past the treeline.  Camp Counselors stood nearby next to a pile of harnesses.

"Welcome, this right here is the 'Leap of Faith'!" the camp counselor spoke with a faint accent though what accent it was the girls couldn't agree.  "We strap one of you at a time into a harness.  That girl will climb as high as she wants.  Then, she will jump.  The rest of you girls will hold onto this steel cord and hold with all of your strength.  If all of you pull your weight, your friend will catch, and we can then slowly bring her down.  Any questions?"

One of the girls, Kiara raised her hand.  "Yes?"

"What is the red ball doing up there?"

"That one?"  She nodded.  "That is an extra difficult challenge.  Supposedly, if you climb up to the top rung and leap juuussssttt right..."  he paused, the girls naturally started leaning in  "You can hit the ball.  If you do that, it will be mentioned at dinner in front of all the girl scout troops." Many of the girls' eyes lit up.  They knew a challenge when they saw one, and girls will never back down.  "I have only seen it done once, and it was done by another counselor.  So good luck if you do try to do it!  Now, who wants to go first?"  The girls quickly formed a line, Kiara going first.  She climbed up, up, up until she was almost 20 ft in the air.  The girls all held onto the cord and waited, breathing stopping momentarily.  Barely a moment passed and then Kiara lept.  She flew as far as she could but like so many others missed the red ball.  Her screams of delight cutting through the winter air.  The group caught her and she slowly came down.

One of the girls stayed near the back.  "I am not brave," she thought to herself.  "I can't do this."  So she waited, holding onto the cord catching friend after friend, each flinging themselves off the pole, some higher up than others.  One girl, Amy, even appeared to slip off the rung before being caught.  Girl Scout after Girl scout went up, became fitted for a harness, and climbed up the pole.  The line slowly moved forward as girls went and then returned, cheeks flushed with adrenaline.  And eventually,  in what felt like forever and a second all at the same time, it became the one girls turn.  She started to sweat in the wintery air.

The girl scout troop cheered her on, encouraging her to go "like super high!"  As she started to climb up the rungs the voices slowly changed from words to high pitched noise.  Sound drifting out as fear and determination took her.  The girl started to climb.

The rungs were slippery from the snow that had been stuck to the previous girls' boots.  She held on with everything in her, terrified of falling like Amy.  She continued to climb.  She wasn't sure why she went as high as she did.  Was it the thought "just one more" pulsing in her head?  Was it the girls down below whose voices had finally gone quiet as they waited?  Or was it something inside her?  A spark of courage?  Whatever it was she climbed,  and slowly, ever so slowly, but still not enough time, she reached the top rung.

"Why?"  That was all she could think as she turned to jump.  "Why?"  She thought about climbing down.  None of the other girls had done it.  But she could.  It would be so easy, just go to a lower rung, leap off from there.  But she didn't.  She was paralyzed with indecision.  Paralyzed by logic. Paralyzed by emotion.  She took a shuddering, wheezy breath.  The red kickball was within her eyesight.  It would be quite a leap to reach it.  It ssemed impossibly far away.  She didn't even have a running start.  But something within told her to try.  She leaned back against the wooden telephone pole, took one last breath... and proceeded to take a leap of faith.

The moment before they caught her was one of almost freedom.  A plummeting sensation filled her stomach and she reached out, just barely touching the rubbery ball, but hitting it all the same, and then they caught her.  She came down to safety and cheers.  High on adrenaline, emotion, exhaustion.  The high never went away for the rest of the day.  The leap of faith did not last long.  It was no more than five minutes of the girl's life.  But it will always stick out in the girls' mind.  It still sticks out.  The sensation of freefall, the feeling of rubber through a glove, the relief of being caught by friends.  By family.  Sometimes we all need a reminder to take a leap of faith.

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