14) WHAT WE NEED IS SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL


What happened:

Almost everyone, myself included, agreed that in the normal course of events, BREAKTHROUGH SKYDIVING didn't make any sense at all. Yet there was something irresistible about the research project which created the possibility for participation for everyone who was ever in any way associated with it.

Abstract:

What people really want to do in life is participate. People really want their lives to matter, to make a difference.

Observation:

      For some people, BREAKTHROUGH SKYDIVING didn't make any sense at all. The research project enabled me to participate with people in a way that is profoundly different from the way you and I usually encounter each other. Truly there is no answer for anyone who asks why I created BREAKTHROUGH SKYDIVING, suffice to say that I created it because I created it.

      From within that tautology I came to see that in a very real sense we are participation. What we need to do is to rehabilitate that essential nature. We want our participation to count. We want our lives to make a difference. We want to be known as people whose word can be counted on to the degree when if we say we are going to make something happen, then you can bet everything you own that it will happen. It makes no sense at all that we should be that way, and that is the way we turn out to be.

Conclusions:

I used to be different; now I am the same.