Throw the Hat

There's a famous story about JFK and RFK and their dad, Joe Kennedy. Joe used to take the boys for a hike. Encountering a very large fence, Joe would take off John's hat and throw it over the fence. John would cry, "dad! how am I supposed to get my hat?" and his dad would tell him, "You'll have to figure it out." So John and Bobby would spend the day figuring out how to retrieve the hat. Sure enough, they'd return home just before supper....with the hat.

Sometimes in life when we don't know how to get from point A to point B, we'd be well off to take the advice Joe Kennedy gave his sons. How many risks, how many things do we put off because the outcome is unstable or unpredictable? As Helen Keller said: "Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing at all." I'd say she was right on target.

Sometimes, you just need to throw the hat.