“C’mon Jack, jump!” Billy yelled at his best friend, who stared down at him from the tall limbs of the oak tree far above the pile of leaves on the ground.

“I don’t know! I’m kinda scared!” Jack yelled back.

“I dare you!”

Dear reader, I don’t know how long it has been since you have been a child, but let me solidify this concept in your head. When one child dares another to do some thing they would otherwise avoid, that thing becomes the only thing that matters in a given moment. Thoughts of crushes, chores, or what’s for dinner disappear and are replaced with one thought alone: I have to follow through. 

And so Jack jumped into the pile of leaves which provided less cushion than either boy had counted on, and a broken bone and a hospital visit were in order, as well as an end to a friendship. That day Billy learned the power of the dare, Jack learned the power of gravity, and Jack’s parents learned the power of the hospital bill.