#DolphinSchool extra, launching a foam glider from a 150 ft tower to demonstrate how taking risks pays off! (video)
Bonus, video of my ugly mug introducing myself and a little allegory about taking risks in life to reap big rewards!
So, here's a video introduction of me. Yeah, I used to be pretty, but that was 20 years ago, so what you see is what you get. My kids say I look like I'm on vacation, I'm okay with that. Anyway, enjoy!
Next up a little lesson in how taking just a little risk, can mean everything!
This summer my wife was able to rent a house on a guest ranch for my us and our 8 kids and 2 soon to be kidsinlaw for a few days. As we were getting what we needed at Wally World, she saw a giant foam glider and threw it in the basket. Good idea.
The kids had a great time launching it in a big field, after dinner the first night
I wish I had pictures of it, but it happened spontaneously and we were all having so much fun, we didn't document it. The field sloped down, away from the guest house, towards a pasture, a good hundred yards of open, mowed grass.
This is how we do things in life, we take the most convenient space, resources or time and we get decent results, but often, we don't really optimize what we are capable of!
We managed to get the glider to fly pretty well, with the slope of the land, it would stay airborn for 10-15 seconds, and fly a hundred feet, but I had an idea!
On the ranch, there is a lake, with paddle boats and kayaks for use by guests, and overlooking it was a 150 foot forestry tower, with an observation deck that we could climb...
So, we decided on a little adventure. We got permission from the ranch owner to carry the glider, about 3 feet long, up the tower and launch it out over the lake, here's what happened.
It was awesome!
The glider launched out in a wide circle, rising above trees and flying for about 30 seconds, or more, before coming to rest in a tree.
*Later, I thought about this. Both the field and tower were readily available. When we launched the glider in the field, it was fun. It was a lot of fun, but the launch from the tower was so epic, we decided it was worth the risk of losing the glider to see it! (which we did) *
Life is like that. So many times there is an easy, convenient choice nearby and we take it. Meanwhile, rising just a little ways in the distance is this tower of an idea. It takes a little work to climb it, it's even a little scary, but the results...well, I think you get the idea!
I like the analogy of launching the glider from higher up, with going for bigger things in life. Nice videos too. Did you ever recover the glider?
On roadblocks, I guess it depends on how your interaction with it leaves you. If you hit one in your car, it may become immobilized, but you can walk around it. Tripping over a cliff could leave you non-amulatory, but if you have your phone you can call for help, unless the battery died.
Maybe it depends on how resilient, determined and lucky you are, when hitting roadblocks early in life. People proceed at least partly on their own experience, and if they get around roadblocks more than not as a youth, they might be optimistic about future ones. Conversely for the person who for one reason or another has not had good results with roadblocks, they might not feel it's worth the effort to get around the next one if they generally haven't in the past.
It also depends on where the road is blocked. If a person is satisfied with where they find themselves at that point in the road, they may choose to enjoy were they are at, and not consider the blockage to be a disadvantage at all.
Personally, I've had my share of roadblocks, and generally was not in a position to camp out at that spot, but had to keep moving in another direction. Each leg of the journey has been an adventure!
Thanks for the comment @kenny-crane, I think you took it a little literally. Ha, that's great. I mean any limitation in life, a point past where you're told not to go. Even if you can't go through, or around, there are always endless other possibilities. Of course, like all analogies, it has its flaws. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
Yeah, I was trying to keep it in the form of an analogy, as I'm not all that interested in sharing every deep detail of exact life experiences on the permanent blockchain as many others are! I guess my main point was that how you react when you're knocked down to the mat in the boxing ring of life depends on how many times you were knocked down before. Sometimes, experience might teach one that staying on the mat is your best strategy. Or something like that. :P It's late, cya tmrw on Steemit!
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