...Not go for the brass ring

From the time I was only a few months old up until I entered high school, my family's vacations were always spent in the same place: Ocean City, NJ. My parents owned a succession of small vacation homes and although the houses were rented out for a lot of the summer season, we usually spent a few weeks there at least.


At that time, Ocean City had two amusement piers on the boardwalk....I remember a lot of the rides...from the bumper cars and tea cups to the tram that ran along a rail at the top of one. I remember this ride vividly because it got stuck one time when I was riding it at a kid and along with some other terrified children, I had to climb down on a ladder of sorts til I reached the ground. I think that was probably the start of my fear of heights. (This was way before the era of lawsuits so I believe that all my poor frightened parents got out of this ordeal was a book of tickets.)


But the ride that I remember most is also the most ubiquitous --- the merry-go-round. Chances are I gravitated towards this ride because if the ride stopped...I didn't have far to go to get off of it.  Of course a big part of riding a merry-go-round is the chance to grab the brass ring and get a free ride. Watching other kids going for it and missing lead me to believe that I probably would fail if I tried for it as well. Even at a young age, I think I was more worried about failing to get it than actually trying to do it. But really...if I tried and failed to get it, what harm would it really do?  I honestly don't recall what prompted me one day to try for that brass ring. Chances are my parents were out of tickets and I wanted a free ride to stay a little longer on the boardwalk. First pass around, I grabbed for the brass ring and missed. It took a few more turns before I tried again...and got it!  Free ride! Every time after that that we went to the boardwalk and I rode the merry-go-round, I went for the brass ring. I'm sure I missed it more than I got it. But that wasn't the point.  At least I tried. 


As adults, I think that we conditioned sometimes to not always take chances --- to go "for the brass ring." Fear of failure is a strong deterrent for a lot of us. But the older I get, the more I try to look at what is the worse thing that will happen if I don't try for something.  And I usually discover that it's not nearly as motivating as what would happen if I did try. So the next time someone offers you a brass ring, remember that life is too short to not go for it.