What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?
I flew once, in my orthodontist’s college buddy’s private copter, when I was about 11. And it was great fun…at first. We flew over my neighborhood, and I could see my little sister playing in the front yard with our dog. It SHOULD have been an awesome experience, but not long after we passed over our street, the pilot told my older brother and I, “Say, guys? Wanna see what this does?” Next thing I knew, the copter dipped straight down…not terribly far, or else we likely would have crashed, but far enough to irrecoverably frighten me. I tore a two-foot long strip in the carpeting on the roof of the plane and a two-inch long strip in the hair on my brother’s head before even more hysterically demanding that we cut the rest of the flight short and return. My mom wanted to tear a foot-long strip someplace in the pilot I won’t mention after I told her. I realize commercial jets are far different than private copters, but some of the ways that they differ make commercial air flight even scarier to me. Now, I told you that story to tell you this one: the only, ONLY way I would ever wilfully be a passenger in a commercial airliner is if such a substance existed that I could ingest to be safely rendered unconscious for the entire flight. I would even donate money to anyone that wanted to invent such a product. Quote me on that.
I’d have been scared shitless too.