My friends and I are snow tubing one day
Carving trails down hills in between trees
One friend and I a new trail we attempt
He goes down first as I watch from the side
One curve he can’t maneuver because of his speed
His momentum carries him straight off the trail
And into a jump unplanned, launched in the air
Scraping a big tree just barely to the side
“Idiot,” I say, “I can do much better”
I take the same tube, launching from the same place
Pointing in the same general direction
Thinking my results would be quite different
As I’m carried straight towards the jump
I wonder why I didn’t listen the first time
I’m thrown from the tube and launched in the air
Standing straight up, flying with the birds
But I am able to change my path a bit
Just enough to be aligned with the tree
With plenty of time to ponder my mistake
I work out Newton’s Laws in my own head
It seems I have time to grow a beard
Before I will ever hit that tree
I learn my lesson many times over
In anticipation of the great crash
With all of my friends watching on with popcorn
I hit that tree like a bug on a windshield
Lying in the snow, looking up at the tree
I now choose to learn from others’ mistakes
–Jason Westlake
Fri., December 8, 2006
