Take a Flying Leap

The truth is, I used to know how to fly; and I wasn’t the only one. I remember soaring over my neighborhood and looking down at the houses and people below. It’s different than being in a plane because you can see all around you and see what’s up and down. You also have to be careful of birds and phone and electrical wires so it is best to fly over parks or empty fields.

There was one summer day when everyone was out of school and we were playing tag in the park with no adults around. One older boy was super fast and no one could escape his tags; except for one girl. She did it by jumping into the air and hovering 10 feet above the ground. There is no laughter as rich and lilty as the laughter of a child who just escaped a tag and stayed just out of the reach of the older boy. That poor chaser was so agitated and upset because every time he jumped he would just come down. There was nothing he could do.

As clear as the sunny day, I can see the older boy getting madder and madder as the young girl got ever more giddy. Her giggles were contagious and as I began to laugh I could feel myself getting lighter. But try as I may I could not  defy gravity and fly and hover just like my young friend. I wondered if I’d ever learn how to fly like she did. A few weeks later, on a Saturday afternoon, a few of my friends, including that girl were outside and flying kites. As the wind became ever more vigorous I realized that I could be a kite.

So I took my jacket and held it up like a sail. I ran into the breeze until my feet were churning in the open air. And there I was flying like a gliding bird. I wasn’t exactly Superman so I couldn’t just hop into a phone booth, change my clothes and go up, up and away. I was a lot closer to the the Greatest American Hero because once I was up in the air I couldn’t control my flight path. Sometimes I drifted into trees and other times the wind would stop and I would tumble to the ground. But I spent most of that afternoon in the air.

I was able to fly for several years. Now, astronauts will tell you that you have to go into space or in some other anti-gravity machine to feel the sensation of weightlessness, but that story is as phony as $10 Rolex watch. I believe that human children have always known how to fly. It’s as natural as looking up to the stars. But once we forget the fanciful we tend to make other children forget as well. Perhaps it’s time to let our children dream the way I was allowed to dream, when I was just a boy.