Life is a trampoline

There are not too many children who do not love to try a trampoline. I remember having a small one somewhere in my childhood, but cannot place the exact location it was. I do remember vividly taking up ‘professional’ trampolining when I was 13 in school in Al Ain, UAE. It was an after-school club, with a structure and required jumps you had to learn in order to progress to the next level. I have a memory of putting on a show during one of the open days for parents. Needless to say, I loved it – what was not to love: I got to jump as high as I could so there was risk involved, there was the instability of the surface I landed one so every landing was an adventure, and there was the challenge of learning the new shape/position and maintaining poise and balance. In 2016 and again in 2017 I found myself in Dublin and in Portland once again on a trampoline with children a quarter of my age, and it was glorious.

The images of my trampolining career as a child, teenager and then more recently have come back very vividly in recent weeks. I have been trying to process why, and to fit it in with all my other personal current inward and outward journeys, and I have decided that trampolining is a euphemism for life! Well my life at least. Here’s how I relate each of the aspects of trampolining to me life, and then I add my own spin on the activity. Firstly, in trampolining there is the challenge of learning the different positions (plank and star jump were my favourite). In life generally I love the thrill of a challenge, of learning and trying something new. I do not always succeed in all the challenges I take on, but from every attempt I grow and gain something that contributes to my life. Secondly, the trampoline is an unsteady surface which can sometimes send you higher and sometimes have you fall flat on your face. I acknowledge that life too is an unpredictable path sometimes paved with sharp stones and sometimes there’s a bicycle to help you sail along. Sometimes when trampolining you might even fall off the trampoline because you went too high or because someone pushed you too hard; sometimes in life you feel like you have fallen off the path and that you will never be able to get back up. Both have happened to me, and the truth is you dust yourself off, you take all the time you need, you accept the hands which reach out to you, and you get back on that trampoline. Thirdly, when trampolining there will be teammates or friends who jump as high as you do, who laugh when they fall over on the trampoline; there will also be teammates or friends who try to keep up with you but cannot jump as high or would rather sit at the base of the trampoline and watch you jump. In life there are people who will inspire you to jump higher, who will be right there with you driving you as you engage in your adventures and challenges; there will be others in your life who will admire your sense of adventure but who will not have the same perspective on life. I have encountered both in my life, and in recent times have come to accept the difference in perspectives people bring to my life and how much I value this. I also acknowledge that I need to jump higher and higher.

I offer a fourth element to my proposal of life as a trampoline which is how I want to share with you my thoughts on recent discussions on structural violence, racism, gender discrimination and the destruction of liberal thought: we are not all born equal, we are all born with different weights attached to our feet. Someone will have a weight because they are a woman, another will have a weight because they are gay, another will have a weight because they are indigenous, another will have a weight because they are black living in the US or Canada or Europe, another will have a weight because they believe in god, another will have a weight because they don’t, another will have a weight because they are born into poverty, another will have a weight because they are born with a genetic disorder, another will have a weight because they are born with a physical disability, another will have a weight because they are born with a mental disability. I could go on… Imagine a picture of a group of children from all across the world some with one weight, some with two, others with several, a small minority with none approaching the trampoline I call life. How are they expected to embrace their sense of adventure, face their challenges, grow and learn when they cannot even begin to jump because of the weights shackled at their feet. Let’s advocate for structural change so that we can help those children remove their weights put there by unjust societal beliefs and norms which are embedded in our structures.

 

I want to dedicate this blog entry to a dear friend Hilary Carter of my Irish grandmother May O’Brien who passed away recently. Hilary and May were women born in Ireland at a time when being a woman was certainly not a blessing and did not offer many opportunities. They met working at Country Markets in Cahir Co. Tipperary baking bread and making jam, and where they inspired me over the years to never give up trying to do the best you can (weights and all) for yourself and your family. 

My latest adventure is learning to open water swim!