Breaking Barriers

           My daughter Monique heard a thud in her kitchen and ran to see what had happened. Sprawled out on the tile floor was her three-year-old daughter Olivia.

            “Olivia, what happened? Did you trip on something?”

            “No, I was just trying to see if I could fly yet.”

            Charles Yeager attempted something scientists thought was just as impossible when in 1947 he sought to break the sound barrier. Earlier attempts were abandoned at the point a plane would reach Mach 1, the speed of sound, and begin to shake violently. It was as though a solid wall prevented the plane from going further.

            Yeager took off on October 14, 1947 toward that invisible wall. The speed of the plane increased until observers on the ground witnessed it shaking, then heard a loud boom. They thought the aircraft had exploded until they heard Yeager’s calm voice speaking over the radio. The sound barrier had been broken and the plane was flying smoothly.

            What in your life seems impossible? What job, goal, relationship, or dream looms before you? Are you close to seeing it become reality? Don’t be discouraged if there continues to be challenges. It might be that you are right at the brink of a breakthrough.

            Yeager broke the sound barrier and Olivia learned to fly by swinging on her stomach with her hands and feet outstretched. Don’t give up on yourself.

Ronny may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com