Skating Close to the Edge

Once upon a time there was a man, or it could be a woman, who bundled up warmly, put on his skates and his gloves and a warm woolen hat, and went out skating on a pond on an early winter day when the ice in the lake had not quite frozen in the center of the pond. Being of a stubborn disposition and loving a little risk he skated right towards the hole in the center and went plunging in. It took three of his patient friends to pull him back out.

For a while he dried off in the lodge then once again donned his apparel and went out skating on the pond. This time he saw the hole, but he had managed to repress just how cold the icy water is and thought to himself “I will just skate around the edge,” but the ice around the edge was a little thin and predictably enough it broke beneath his weight and he went plunging in once more. Again two of his friends retrieved him muttering as they did so, “Why doesn’t he learn?”

After drying off and sitting by the fire in the lodge the longing to glide across the ice overcame him and he once more bundled up, put on his skates and his warm woolen hat and went out skating on the pond. As he drew close to the hole in the ice he began to feel very shakey, the hole and the icy water was calling out to him and drawing him like a magnet. In desperation he fell down on his stomach but the magnet attraction of the hole in the ice drew him in and once more he plunged into the icy water. Again his one remaining friend, at some risk to himself, lay down on the ice and slid carefully towards him, seized his hand and drew him out. Oh, how warm that fire in the lodge was!

Being warm and dry he thought fondly of that wonderful experience of gliding along the ice, so once more he ventured forth, but this time he stayed close to the edge of the pond and far away from the hole in the ice, but some of the old joy was gone. In a cold sweat he skated back to the lodge and sat by the fire and thought to himself, “What kind of fool am I?” His one remaining friend said, “Why don’t you come skiing with me instead?” He sat there for a few minutes, then made a momentous decision and replied, “I think that’s a very good idea.”