![]() ![]() But before the new road was even finished, it was washed out during the Los Angeles flood of 1938. The bridge was built in the 1930s as part of an attempt to connect the San Gabriel Valley to Wrightwood just north of it. As it turned out, the only government-certified bungee jumping center in California-and anywhere within a 1,000-mile radius of Los Angeles-is Bungee America.įounded by legendary bungee jumper Ron Jones in 1989, Bungee America coordinates jumps off the scenic Bridge to Nowhere every weekend, all year round. ![]() As soon as I got back to California, I started researching local bungee jumping options. How did I end up on this bridge in the middle of Angeles National Forest, a 5-mile hike from the nearest road? It started with getting hooked on bungee jumping during a trip to Costa Rica a few years ago. The Bridge to Nowhere sits in an area of the San Gabriel Valley known as the Narrows. I’m hoisted back up onto the jumping platform-and then I immediately do it all over again. The momentary terror that precedes the actual jump is soon replaced by something more akin to gratitude-for being alive, certainly, but also for the ability to experience something so disruptive from everyday life. It’s a magnificent feeling to be suspended mid-air. ![]() The bungee cords attached to my body harness stretch and contract, tossing me around the canyon before I regain control of my senses and movements. It was adapted from my forthcoming Catholic and Starting Out: 5 Challenges and 5 Opportunities (ACTA).The words disappear into an echo above me as I plunge headfirst off a bridge toward the rushing river below. This essay originally appeared in the National Catholic Reporter - on in its online edition and on in its print edition. Deal with it.Īnd have faith that your “day” will be brighter. Yet, as Gwendolyn Brooks writes in her poem “Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress-Toward”: And there will be those who tell you that’s it’s your fault - for trusting others. A business colleague will take advantage of you. Of course, when you do this, you’ll get hurt at times. This will lead you down roads and through experiences that you could never dream of.ĭon’t follow the advice of the bumper sticker: “He who dies with the most toys wins!” It’s the person with the most friends and the most loved ones whose life is richest. The more you are yourself, the more you come to understand who you are and who you are becoming. And the better you’ll come to understand them and enjoy being with them. The more you are yourself, the more those around you will be open with you. Talk about what you feel, about what you think, about what you believe. The caterpillar will never become a butterfly if it stays inside its cocoon. You can’t really find out who you are and what you can do with your life if you stay hidden inside a fortress. But this is a wasteful way to go through life. You can keep friends, family and the person you love at arm’s length so they can’t really hurt you. Sure, you can choose the safe route and be distrustful. It means having an ethical framework within which you make moral choices. It means taking care to help the other guy. Go to religious services, be part of a faith community that ponders the meaning of life and the relationship of humanity and God. My advice is this: If you’re going to say you believe in God, then believe in God. Sociologists who studied the question in greater depth determined that, since the 1990s, actual weekend church attendance in the U.S. And a good percentage of those may be fibbing. In poll after poll, only about 40 to 45 percent of Americans claim to go to religious services weekly. Yet, many who say they believe aren’t very devout. Since the 1940s and on up to today, more than 90 percent of Americans have told pollsters that they believe in God. Or stay put with your feet firmly planted in the rational world. You can choose to believe or not to believe. ![]() You can see it with your own eyes.īy contrast, faith isn’t something that’s forced on you by the facts. If you put a cup of water in the freezer and wait a couple hours, you’ll find the cup is full of ice. Anything that can be proved doesn’t require belief. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States - that’s a fact. It doesn’t lend itself to test scores.Ī fact doesn’t require belief. By its nature, faith is a squirrelly sort of concept. I’m not sure how much your education and upbringing has prepared you for the question of faith. Margaret Scott - National Catholic Reporter If you’re one of the millions of young people who are graduating from high school or college this season, I have one word of advice for you:īelieve in God. ![]()
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