Ground Rules

Today the ground rules. The heavens send us rain; the ground gives us ice. We are coated from the ground up. We are bound to the ground, are creatures of it. From it we come and to it we return. We look to the heavens but are bound to the earth. 

The other day I watched a show about bird men, people who bundle up in special suits with “wings” then jump off cliffs and “fly” down. The most crucial time, said one of the daredevils, is when you pull the ripcord. Too soon and you miss the ride. Too late and you die.

To pull the ripcord is to speak the truth — that we are creatures of earth, not of heaven. It’s to say, with a reluctant dip of the wing, that the ground rules.