Daring to Dare

13 October 2012

I did step off the precipice...
  came to live in a far away country...
  and I didn't fall!

True, much of this journey
  has been hazy;
  learning as I go,
  standing in my own confusion,
  frustrated by the seeming incoherence
  of my experiences.

yet, still...

Maya Angelou wrote,

  'I believe
      the most 
        important
  single thing,
beyond discipline
  and creativity,
  is daring
       to dare.'

My son gave that poem to me
  as I was preparing for my journey
  to Viet Nam.

It is taped to the wall behind
  my computer screen,
  challenging me daily
  to understand the deep
  wisdom of this woman.

Daring to dare...seems reiterative,
  duplicative,
  you know what I mean?

But, it occurs to me
  it is scary to dare
  for it requires that we step
  outside
  our comfort zone

and risk

our ideas, our beliefs,
  our understandings...
  all accomplishments
  hard won from years
  of living.

So, not only are we challenged
  to dare ourselves.

Maya challenges us to
  dare
  to dare.

Dare to step outside the box.
  Yes, your ideas and values
  and beliefs and understandings

will

be challenged,
  and hopefully
  forever changed.

But, that my friends
  is the nature of human
  growth and development.

We were meant to fly,
  to soar beyond what we know
  so to create the future.

And, to fly,
  we have to step off the precipice.

We must

  dare
    to dare