Mandi this article is dedicated to you, my sweet.

The Fruit at the End of the Limb

Too often in our lives we have people tell us “to get real”, “don’t rock the boat”, "you'll never make it", "are you crazy?" and so many doomsday predictions. They tell us how we must be afraid to fail, how "It" has never been done before. Don't go out on a limb, or someone will saw it off!

I wonder about this. The way I see it, we went out on a limb the day our souls decided to enter this world, We went out on a limb with the first word we ever spoke, with the first step we ever took. We took our chances when we first asserted our developing identities as we screamed 'no, I won't!" to our mom or dad. We dared to fall as we learned to ride a bike. We exposed ourselves when we engaged in our first meaningful relationship. We take our chances when we marry, when we decide to have children, when we try to say all the "I love you"-s we never said before to a dying parent or loved one.

So tell me, what's the big deal? Or is it that as we get older we get more afraid? Afraid of losing all the "things" we have accumulated, trophies of success in a world where if it doesn't glitter, it isn't enough and if it does glitter, it has to be real and valuable.

I'm not buying it. Literally. Where would we be, as individuals, as a nation, as a world, if we didn't do the unthinkable (like who would really think we could go to the moon, besides Jules Verne, that is). What if we channeled our unthinkable, incredible, not do-able thoughts and energies into feeding every person in the world? What if we accepted as a fundamental reality that women, children and men in all countries would no longer live in oppressed or dangerous situations? What if we really went out on a limb and believed that peace was normal? What if we implemented strategies to sustain our world's natural environmental health because we recognized our life connection to Nature?

Hey, I am really going out on a limb here! But as Shirley MacLaine says, “You can’t get the fruit if you don’t go out on a limb.” So in honor of those people who climb out there anyway, I am climbing up to meet them on that high limb. Because when I taste the fruit, I'll remember how sweet life really is.