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Have No Fear, ACT ONE Is Here

Enough about the trust fall, now let’s get real and bring it to the next level. I’m talking about climbing up 30 to 50 feet into the air, then walking on a half inch cable and finally, grabbing onto a rope attached to a zip line. With the harness buckled up and helmet secured, I enjoy the ride — while in my head, I see my life flash by.

I went on a ropes course with ACT ONE, a nonprofit organization that develops youth leaders. Another group, Chinatown Teen Leaders, joined us. Everyone was excited, especially people who had never been on the course. Several of us, though, participated last year. To scare new ACT ONE members, we exaggerated how high the ropes were and told them no safety devices were worn. They didn’t believe us.

First, we separated into two groups. One group practiced on Double Trouble, the other group was sent to the V. Both of these activities are just small potatoes, I mean, they’re just warm ups. The wires are just two feet off the ground.

On Double Trouble, two people are required to stand on opposite sides of a cable. Hanging from each side is a dangling rope. The two people hold the rope on their side to help them balance, as they walk across the wire. When they meet in the center, they exchange ropes and continue to walk until they get to the other side of the cable.

Other people on the ground spot them. They place their hands out to catch them or give them a push to prevent them from falling. That way, each participant will feel secure and will make it through safely. We work as a team and help each other get through without anyone getting hurt.

Even practicing on the low cable isn’t as easy as it looks. The cable is very shaky and it’s hard to balance. In this activity, Janny was my partner. After we exchanged ropes she fell but luckily, she didn’t get hurt. The spotters caught her.

Now, we were ready for bigger challenges. We put on our harnesses. The trick is to climb a ladder 40 feet in the air, then cross a cable. There are two cables positioned at arms-length, to help with balance. Once on the other side, there is a zip line to take you down.

I had already done this before, so I forced Elaine, who was new to the course, to go first. I told her it wasn’t that high and was fun. She was going through the commands, first climbing the ladder to the cable. She held onto the two cables to balance and walked across the cable. After that, she reached a platform and attached a harness to the zip line. She was afraid to jump, but some people told her it was fun. Others advised her to close her eyes and jump.

Elaine gathered into a ball and hopped off the platform. After everyone encouraged her to jump, she believed in all of us.

Next came the bridge. It’s like the cable course, but there are ropes instead of cables to hold onto. Alex was climbing up the ladder, then he began to walk on the thin, wobbly cable. He was shaking like crazy and couldn’t find his balance. He fell. But he didn’t give up and did it again. He was holding onto the rope some 40 feet in the air, and right before he made it to the finish, fell one more time. By this time, we all thought that Alex would give up and move on to the next event, but he didn’t. He had faith and courage to climb once again. He fell again, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he overcame his fear and never gave up.

Moving to the log, this is the one I gave up on. I didn’t want to push myself, but others supported me. This course requires you to walk across a long log positioned 40 feet in the air, without any balancing support. I climbed up the ladder, but was too scared and climbed back down. Tenile took the challenge. She walked across, screaming, yelling, swearing, and saying she was going to pee in her pants. Just before she was one foot away from the end, she lunged for her best friend, Mr. Tree. Everyone was so happy and proud she made it across (even though it took her half an hour).

Last but not least was the perch. The point is to climb up a 35 foot tree. At the top there is a small round platform, where you have to stand. After that, you jump off and try to hit a ball that is dangling from another tree. Of course, you wear a harness.

I was glad to see Lisa do this. She complained that she wasn’t going to do it, that she was too scared. But she climbed the ladder to the top and then boosted herself to the disc at the top. Though the platform was unstable, she managed to stand up and jump to spike the ball. Although she missed, she had the guts to do it. We were all proud.

On this day, a lot of people overcame their fears. It was a day for friends to encourage each other, a day full of laughter and excitement.

Queena Lu will be a senior at Galileo High School in San Francisco in the fall.