Daring ... You either have it or you don't

Somehow I got sucked into watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model this past weekend when I was really supposed to be preparing for finals. As I watched some very annoying model hopeful dissolve into tears when she was told she was going to be attached to a wire cord and hoisted up in the air so that photographers could snap pictures of the girls in karate poses, ala Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I realised that daring is one of those things that you either have or you do not. It's very hard to tell someone that they have to buck up and act daring. I realise that models acting on a painfully contrived show are not the best example for this kind of thing, but I think it is pretty common across human nature. It's either naturally part of a person's personality, or one is just not that type of person. That is not to say that the daring among us are daring across the board. I would have absolutely jumped (no pun intended) at the chance to flit around in the air striking martial arts poses, but there are quite a few things I cannot picture myself doing with ease. I will probably end up sky diving at some point in my life, but it will be the result of a great deal of nerve and mental work. I do not suppose that I could simply get on board the aircraft, cooly fly to 10,000 feet, and then walk over, cross my arms, and fall out of the plane. So if I have daring, it is of the rather timid variety, I'm afraid. I have to work a bit to bring it out, but it is there, hidden beneath the surface. But there are those people who just exude it. People you can imagine energetically going after anything they wanted, or doing anything they got into their heads -- these are the truly intrepid. More than blithely doing stunts that make it onto network reality shows, they have a "just go for it" mentality when it comes to all sorts of things. It's curious; they often know and appreciate all the dangers involved, but the risks do not phase them. I envy it really, this unabashed view of life, but I cannot imagine taking that mindset and implanting it successfully in the mind of someone who did not already think that way. So, again, you either have daring or you do not, and more power to the people to whom it comes so easily.