The Fall Will Probably Kill You

or you could be squished to death on the rocks
by Kato McNickle


Remember that scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where Butch and Sundance are on the cliff, the bad guys shooting are at 'em, and there's no place to go but down? Sundance wants to shoot it out, even though this means death or capture because they're running out of ammo and they are vastly outnumbered. Butch wants to jump off the cliff into the rushing river. Crazy, right? But it's better than the alternative, sitting and waiting for the other guys to bring you down. At last Sundance admits his hesitation about the jump:

SUNDANCE: I can't swim.
BUTCH: Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.

The other day I was talking to a playwright friend. I had sent him an e-mail about a fellowship opportunity with a prominent theater in New York. He said he didn't finish reading it because he got to the part about monthly meetings in the City (we're 3 hours outside of the City), so he stopped even considering it.

"You're probably not gonna get in. Just apply!"

That's what I said. Pretty loud. Sheesh. He laughed.

With this kind of opportunity, if by some fluke, some magic alchemy, some trick of talent, he should actually get in - he would figure out a way to make it work. A friend of ours attended Brooklyn College while holding down a professorship at a nearby college for several years. We do what we gotta do to make it work.

He could make the train ride into the city once or twice a month as needed. Hell, his girlfriend is an actress and she gets her butt into the city for auditions and work - he could figure out how to get himself to the most important career opportunity of his life thus far.

What was stopping him? He couldn't swim.

By taking the jump, you are taking the chance of being squished to death on the rocks. Sure, the fall will probably kill you - but if it doesn't - it could be the greatest adventure of your life.