How Close to the Edge are you?
“I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” – Kurt Vonnegut
The edge is a scary place. Things operate on a very low tolerance before you fail. Sometimes you can fail spectacularly and fall right off the edge. Sometimes you get overwhelmed by how close to the edge you are and become paralyzed with fear.
Most people like to get close to the edge but only when they know that they have a safety net to catch them, or when they know that the fall isn’t very far at all. If you only go to the edge when you have someone else to blame if you fail, or you have a low risk, or the failure doesn’t hurt, then you aren’t on the edge. Standing on the curb isn’t standing on the edge at all.
The vast minority is liberated by the view beyond the guard rails. They hang their big toes off into the gap, knowing that if the edge crumbles out from beneath them that it is going to hurt. But they also know that it is the only way you can see the really cool stuff that no one else can see. They get to see things before anyone else and have a chance to react to them. The risk is great but so is the reward.
Are you standing close enough to the edge to see the cool stuff? Or are you sitting back comfortably behind the guard rail?
