-Patrick Overton
You are standing on the edge. The edge of existence, the edge of happiness, the edge of everything. Behind you is your life. Everything you have worked to achieve, all your failures, the people you love, the path you were supposed to take. Before you is the possibility, the unknown. What would you do? Would you turn around and return to what you know and love? Or would you take the plunge...
Dwindling on that edge is torturous. Like a ticking clock. It mocks you with that little reminder of where you are in time, and just how much time you have left. The edge tells you what has been. It shows you where you could go. But there are always those persistent feelings that tell you no. They tell you that you never could take the plunge. Pain. The pain of every heartbreak, every failure, every fault. It haunts you like a darkness you could never dream of escaping. And just like the night, it returns following every time you experience the light. Then there is fear. The fear of what could be or what never will be. Fear stops you in your tracks no matter who tells you it will be okay and no matter how many have walked before you. Fear follows pain like a stalker; sulking and ominous without mercy. The edge looks steeper and more dangerous now. Because pain and fear have an iron grip on your heart, holding you back from the plunge you thought you wanted.
It is at this point that true character is distinguished. Not to say that those who retreat are not wise. If anything they are the wisest of us all. Who wouldn't want a life of love and security? These people step away from the edge, into the arms of safety. But why should Pain and Fear be victorious. It can be anything that makes the edge look not so scary anymore. For some its the competition and the need to beat even their invisible opponents. For some its the lack of anything to retreat to. For me, it was the thirst for that unknown. Walking through life with no perception of what is out there except that which everyone else speaks of...that is no way to live. Because we were made to live not to just survive. And I choose to live beyond the edge.
