Two things come to mind about this story.
1. We should always pay attention. Be “in the moment,” as they say.
2. We should always consider and evaluate our choices. (AKA Don’t go Bungee Jumping.)
First, I have to say. I’ve never seen the attraction of things like bungee jumping or leaping out of planes.
Jumping was made for things like skipping rope and playing hopscotch. Leapfrog, even on a dangerous day. And planes were made for flying IN, not dropping out of. Bungee cords were designed to hold the furniture in the back of our pickup trucks when we move from place to place.
About a month ago, I heard the story of a bungee jumper who reportedly leaped to her death after mishearing her instructor.
The actual accident happened back on July 18, 2022, when the young woman and her boyfriend decided to go bungee jumping. First mistake. Her name was Yecenia Morales Gomez, and she was only 25 years old.
So there they were, at the Sky Bungee Jumping site in northern Colombia for their big jump. They were standing up on the bridge, getting all ready to go.
Gómez heard the instructor say “Jump” and thought he was talking to her. But no. She wasn’t even hooked up yet. The instructor was giving orders to her boyfriend. Apparently, Gomez was not paying attention to everything and got confused. At any rate, over the side, she went.
They say she died of cardiac arrest, but I would have thought the 150-foot fall would have killed her.
She was pronounced dead on the scene, despite her partner’s attempts to save her by performing CPR.
Despite reports that Gómez confused commands, the bungee company — Sky Bungee — claimed those details weren’t accurate. They said that there was no one else bungee jumping at the time. Things were idle.
The company said only one person goes at a time. And each jump is cleared before the next person is harnessed up. There’s an investigation into the matter.
Back to my original points.
I guess I’m getting too old even to consider unnecessary risks. Even when I do things like climb a step ladder, I assess all the details of the impending feat. Carefully. I evaluate my choices. As they say, “Haste makes waste,” and “Safety is no accident.”
And the other point.
Pay attention. Stay in the moment.
This one is bigger and sometimes harder for me. Depending on my state of mind, this can be a challenge. For instance, if something else is happening in my life, a thing of worry about some upcoming event, perhaps, I find myself slipping out of the present. I often project myself into the future, imagining scenarios and outcomes of the thing I’m worried about. And the next thing you know, I’m putting the sponge in the toaster or placing the roll of paper towels in the washing machine.
Thankfully, in those moments, I’m not up on some bridge in Columbia, getting ready to leap over the side.
So today, I’ll focus on being exactly where I am, and taking in each minute, exactly as it is. Because each one of our life’s moments just might contain some wondrous things.
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“For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
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“People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
― Albert Einstein
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“There’s no wrong time to make the right decision.”
— Dalton McGuinty
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Don’t jump. Or pay attention if you do.
