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| Stephen Burt, Green Acres Alumnus |
Here’s something I can’t get out of my head. It's a news item
about motivational speaker/success guru/ positive-thinking proponent Tony
Robbins. You've probably heard of him. As part of one of his motivational retreats he took people
fire-walking. Fire-walking involves burning coals and bare feet. It is one of those extreme sports formerly undertaken
only by shamans and other wise men. Now
it’s an activity undertaken by anyone who pays Tony Robbins. Seventeen of the participants on the retreat ended up
in the hospital with severe burns. I suppose the fire walking was
the grand finale, meant to show them how much confidence they’d
gained—see, I can walk on fire, Ma!
So, oops.
I am sorry to say that I did laugh when I read this little
news item. Why am I telling you this? Not just because I have a
compulsion to confess my foibles to everyone, even to strangers, probably in some
twisted unconscious attempt to fend off any criticisms that I might think at
all well of myself, and thus be asking for a sledgehammer from on high to crush
me, but also because. Well, I just don’t know.
I learned something about fire-walking, however. It is that
the fire from coals isn’t as hot as the fire from other burning things, so
learning to walk across them is in fact possible for anyone. You just have to
do it really fast. Obviously, psyching yourself up to do it is part of the
message Tony Robbins teaches. You have to build up courage and self-confidence.
But you also have to know the trick.
‘Course sometimes you still get burned.
