From "To see a World in a Grain of Sand"
Oscar Schisgall
I looked and saw a squirrel jump from one high tree to another. He appeared to be aiming for a limb so far out of reach that the leap looked like suicide. He missed but landed, safe and unconcerned, on a branch several feet lower. Then he clibed to his goal, and all was well.
And old man sitting on the bench said, "Funny I’ve seen hundreds of ‘em jump like that, especially when there are dogs around and they can’t come to the ground. A lot of ‘em miss, but I’ve never seen any hurt in trying." Then he chuckled. "I guess they’ve got to risk it if they don’t want to spend their lives in one tree."
I thought, "A squirrel takes a chance have I less nerve than a squirrel?"
Since then, whenever I have to choose between risking a new venture or hanging back, I hear the old man on the park bench saying, "They’ve got to risk it if they don’t want to spend their lives in one tree."
So I’ve jumped again and again. And in jumping I’ve learned why squirrels do it so often: it’s fun.