No Safety Net

Growing up, I was fascinated by circus performers flying on the trapeze.  The epitome of daring and showmanship was to perform without a net. 

Similar and even more daring feats were performed on the tightrope:

“Charles Blondin owed his celebrity and fortune to his idea of crossing the gorge below Niagara Falls on a tightrope, 1100 feet (335 m) long, 3¼ inches in diameter, 160 feet (50 m) above the water. This he accomplished, first on 30 June 1859, a number of times, always with different theatric variations: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man (his manager, Harry Colcord) on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet and standing on a chair with only one chair leg on the rope.”  [Wikipedia]

We start out life close to the ground with safety nets all around, including parents, teachers, community leaders, coaches, scouting leaders, neighbors, family, friends, etc. 

But, as the curtain rises in our lives, the safety nets drop away, reducing both the surveillance commitments and the corralling constraints keeping us within the safety net loop, and we are expected to take increasing responsibility for our own welfare. 

While the safety nets don’t completely disappear (e.g., we have contingency provisions for Unemployment Benefits, Worker’s Compensation, Disability Benefits, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, food banks, Salvation Army, etc.), they serve mainly to cover emergency circumstances and to prevent destitution in dire circumstances.  

To realize the life we are intended to adopt for ourselves, we need – at some point – to climb the ladder, take hold of our own trapeze and walk out on our own tight rope into territory where safety nets generally don’t exist.  So we have to construct our own safety nets, where possible, or sprout “wings”.  With sufficient earnings, we can purchase life insurance, health insurance, car insurance, home insurance, etc. But we can’t buy “Job Insurance”, or “Wellness Insurance”, or “Beauty Insurance” or “Social Mobility Insurance”.  There are no safety nets here.  The claim “I’m Dr. Johnson’s son/daughter … “ carries diminishing indemnification, importance and impact with time. 

But don’t sell the “Wings” paradigm short.  We’re challenged by many to “Soar with the Eagles” [although we’re reminded by David McNally that “Even Eagles Need a Push”!]  How does that work?     

First of all, we need a constitution capable of flight (translated attitude and general “fitness”).  Then we need wings (translated math skills, writing skills, computer skills, etc.)  And we need a finely tuned compass (translated sound inner-core principles and well-cultivated habits) to be able to navigate the uncharted landscape.  And we need absolute diligence in attentiveness to the voyaging.  We can benefit immensely from significant others who can provide “wind beneath our wings” … who can make passage more tenable and increase achievable elevation.  For this to happen, we need to be found worthy of the investment, accountable, and diligent in applying the capital assets at your disposal.  (Significant others are generally altruistic, but they are not so beyond reasonability!) 

BOTTOM LINE: Externally imposed safety nets are for the nascent, naïve, immature, underdeveloped, untested, unsung, under-capacitized and misfortunately undone.  The safety nets are intended to provide shelter while “seasoning”, wising-up, maturing, developing, testing, benchmarking and capacitizing the troops.  The real rewards in life are concentrated at higher altitude, attainable only by those who can rise high enough to get them. 

“The only safe course … is to expect no safety.”

Virgil

“Emulant of the wise who soar but never roam,

True to the kindred points of heaven and home,

Wheresoe’er thy Dreams may be,

Receive with Joy thy Destiny.”

[Derivation from “To a Skylark” by William Wordsworth]