personal essay

Assonet's Ledge: Freetown State Forest
Photo Credit: Casey Tower
75 foot drop from top (where i am in white)
 *click for full size*

It started the night before while Kyle and I were at a bonfire talking about the summer. Events that had passed, and others that might be coming up. Kyle had been cliff-jumping recently and mentioned that a cliff wasn't too far away. “Have me over tonight and we’ll go tomorrow.” he said, and so the next day was planned out. The following morning we both got out of bed, threw on our hats, and I grabbed the keys to my jeep. My brother mason asked what we were doing just before we left, and we told him to tag along. Shane called right afterwards looking for something to do, I simply told him to be ready in five minutes, and five minutes later we were in his driveway. Kyle got out of the car yelling, “We’re ‘bout to get silly and jump off a cliff!” The second Shane heard that he jumped in the jeep and was begging to know more. My brother, Mason, was another story. Even though he was coming, he was more hesitant than anyone else. Nevertheless it was something we all wanted to do, and our friend Kyle said it was safe. He had done it before, so why should be believe him? The cliff wasn't far from my house, but we still had to drive through Dighton, so we decided to see if our friend Roy wanted to come. “Uh, I wont jump, but I’ll watch.” That was good enough for us. Kyle, Shane, Mason, Roy, and I were heading towards the 75 foot cliff we had not-so-thoroughly planned out the night before.

It was called Assonet’s Ledge and the four of us were standing on top of it. There was graffiti everywhere that read “jump!”, “do it”, “RIP Johnny”, as well as other various sayings trying to convince you to jump. It was impersonal peer pressure, but we had come for a reason and that “peer pressure” only gave us direction. It was clear that people had died there before with all of the dates and memorials. Kyle was fine and he had done it before, why wouldn't we be ok? “Ready!” yelled Roy, to let us know that his camera was all set and before we knew it Kyle took a single step off the cliff. After seeing Kyle go the rest of us were more comfortable. “I’ll go next.” said Shane, and he stepped off. It took what seemed like forever to hear a splash. I was next in line. It was now or never and i was one step away from success. If i turned my back now i knew that i would regret it. I looked down and saw the 75 foot plummet towards the water and i took a step. I hit water and swam to shore to see my brother go next.

To watch someone drop from that high was incredible. It was one thing to watch someone fall from above, and another thing to watch someone free fall from ground level, but to do it yourself was a whole different experience. Even though it was a simple task, it took more courage to do that than it usually would to do anything else. There’s a whole mix of feelings that change from the ascent, the edge of the cliff, the jump, and the swim to the shore. You’re excited and nervous, speechless and scared up to the edge of the cliff. The actual jump differed more than any other feeling. I was completely absentminded. During that slow-motion two second fall, i was wondering to myself: “Why did I even do this?”, “When am I gonna hit water?”, “What do i get out of this?” All of those questions were answered moments later. I did it for fun, I hit water fast, and I got a sense of pride and accomplishment. 

The jump was life changing. Almost any task, decision, or event, no matter how difficult or simple they may be, could be compared to it. For any of those everyday opportunities or those once in a life time chances you could be nervous. If you’re only one step away take the step, and embrace it. Its not worth worrying about. Never miss an opportunity, stay positive about everything, and have fun. Its never as bad as it seems, and in the end it will all be worth it.