A Prayer of the Flying Fox

Dear You,

I bet the cemeteries heard more honest confessions than any court, Airports have seen more love than any wedding and Hospitals have heard most sincere prayers than any place of worship. Because regret is stronger than gratefulness, so loss is felt stronger than gains.  Be it a friend who left us for an absurd reason, Love that is faded over time or a loved one who departed too soon. We hold on to them like a tight rope that’s going to stop us from falling free.

“Ok now you move forward and slide down whenever ready” my instructor told me for the third time. I was sitting on edge of a platform of (what I suppose) 200 meter tall tower. I had my safety jacket on, and it’s attached to the pulley of an overhead cable that was connected from the tower to a lower point. This is what I signed up for, in my recent trip to Bintan in Indonesia.  The idea is to freefall from the platform and slide to the lower point which is popularly known as “Flying fox”. The instructor again asked me to slide down and I replied with calmness “Yes I understand, just give me a minute”.

The us

The Tower

The View from the tower ( Photo courtesy Flicker)

Any daredevil would tell you, this is such a cakewalk.  But sitting on top of that platform, I could hear nothing but my beating heart and I was holding on to nothing but fear. I could feel the pull of gravity from the slippers hanging from my feet.  I closed my eyes to say a prayer, which I always did when I undertook adventure of any sort. “I request for forgiveness from those I wronged, and forgive those who wronged me. May I only carry the good and let go of whatever that don’t serve any higher purpose”. I opened my eyes to the evening sun over the horizon, and the wind that was cooling off my sweat.

Then I let go. The split second fear exploded into the rush of adrenaline. They say when god pushes you over the cliff he would either catch you or give you wings to fly. But I think, when god pushes you over the cliff, he wants you to let go!