Finding the power within
~Cass Myler, Class of 2025
“The coward dies a thousand deaths,
~Ernest Hemingway
the brave but one?’
‘Of course. Who said it?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘He was probably a coward,’ she said. “He knew a great deal about cowards but nothing about the brave. The brave dies perhaps two thousand deaths if he’s intelligent. He simply doesn’t mention them.”
During the whole bus ride up to Windsor Mountain in NH with my whole 8th grade class, I was wishing that I wasn’t on this trip, and I was wondering what three days in the woods with a bunch of 8th graders would be like. I thought it was going to be boring and not fun, but I was very wrong. I don’t like to sleep in cabins or jump off of tall things, but during this trip I began to love both of these things. I didn’t know that on this trip, I would learn that you need to have courage, bravery, and you need to deal with fear to have a fulfilling
If you never leap, you will not find courage. I discovered my courage as I peered into the dark water eighteen feet below. At Windsor Mountain, I decided to do a backflip off the extremely tall platform and couldn’t find the courage inside myself to jump. While my whole body was shaking, I jumped and rolled backwards, my friends Eli, Nick, Kaden, and Jack cheered me on. This ended up being an almost terrible idea, but I ended up landing it and it felt excellent to finally do a backflip. Jack was the first to go, he was calm and cool and looked like he had done this a million times. He walks to the edge of the platform, jumps and executes a perfect flip. I was the second to go but unlike Jack, I was not calm and cool; I was terrified. Then Nick yelled “We’re freezing down here. Can you just jump?” So then, quivering I walked to the edge and jumped. As I rolled backwards, I kept trying to stay in a ball and not land my face. When I hit the water, I felt so relieved that I landed it. When I was in the water, I thought of how fun it was to finally do a backflip. If I didn’t have the courage to jump, I wouldn’t have this fond memory. When I was faced with a moment to show courage, I didn’t shy away, but was courageous enough to do the flip.
If you aren’t brave enough to go, you will never be able to find that bravery within yourself. I found bravery while swinging off a 25 foot rope swing. My favorite memory from our trip was at Black Pond in Windsor NH. I had an amazing time at the waterfront with my friends Eli, Jack, Mason, and Kaden while jumping off a dangerous rope swing that put my bravery to the test. Eli was the first to go, his knees quivered as he gripped the rope for dear life. I was the second to go, and my friend Eli said “Jump you dingus!” As I jumped, I felt the air rushing by me and the water approaching quickly from below. I tucked my knees and hung on to the rope, hoping my grip wouldn’t give out. I let go of the rope at the apex and flew high through the air thinking I was going to flop on my back. Just as I was about to hit the water, I landed successfully and swam back to shore. When I was at the apex of that swing, I looked at the world around me and realized that I was so happy to be there. If I didn’t overcome my fear, I wouldn’t have been able to see that view. When I was in the water, I realized that the experience wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be and that I was proud of how I found the bravery inside of myself to swing.
No one can be brave and scared at the same time, and when I faced the challenge of doing the high ropes course, I had to forget my fear and find the bravery to do the course. One great memory from the Windsor Mountain trip was being absolutely petrified on the high ropes course. My knees trembling, and not knowing I was afraid of heights. Although this was very scary, it was my favorite part of the trip because I had to persevere through just getting my legs to move. I was the first person of our advisor group to go. I thought at the bottom that I was going to be very good at this, but boy was I wrong. As I got to the top of the tree, I looked around and then down and realized how high I was. From the ground it only was about 50 feet, but from the top it looked to be about 400. I started to sweat and could barely walk without almost falling. Towards the end, I got more confident and I started to let go of my rope. Then, I fell to the ground with the help of Harry, who was belaying me. Dangling on a log 50 feet in the air really made me think about what I fear. On that log, I realized that there’s more to life when you go outside of your comfort zone. When I was faced with fear, I didn’t turn away; I made fear turn away.
Always take chances; You will never know how your chances will turn out.
I really like how you set up your whole piece with the opening paragraph. You describe how you were not wanting to be there at all, but how you were very grateful for it because of the lessons you learned. You end by telling us those lessons and later explain how you learned them.
Windsor was so fun with you. Wish we could do it again