High Wire
Audio version
Old George* knew a thing or two and always said, as I recall, “The higher the wire, the harder the fall.” Time was, we could raise a little dream to distant heights, and find some space above the lights where it could grow and act like a promise to those we left below. Never once did we believe that those who bet on us would ever pull the net on us, or that they'd ever leave. Today a lot of us fall and no one sees. There are no nets: we fall invisibly. We crash to whatever ground meets us and wait silently but no crowd greets us to lend a hand, to provide some aid, until it dawns on us, bruised and numb, there is no help, that help will never come. And when we rise again, if we ever do, a bit more crushed, a bit more broken, we think the bruises will be invisible, too, and so the pain we end up living through remains unspoken: "We came so close, we were at the brink" That's a lot of us now — More than you think. * George W. S Trow, American essayist, novelist, playwright, and media critic



"Time was,
we could raise
a little dream
to distant heights,
and find some space
above the lights
where it could grow
and act like a promise
to those we left below."
Wonderful, Paul! Poignant, powerful. Thank you.
Thanks to @Kristin , MSN, RN, CCRN for the restack!