i wish life was like riding a bicycle...that once you learned to fall you would be a master of the machine, choosing your ultimate destination.

you fall completely the first time, and no one is around to help you back up. where's that strong hand when you need it most? but you tell yourself, "hey--everyone falls the first time," and soon things begin to seem like that one time was just a mistake, your learning experience.

the second time catches you unaware because of this, and the fall is more violent--you scrape the bruises and the old wounds are re-opened.

every time after that makes you want to quit. but everyone falls, not just the first time, but time and time again. if we all weren't such a miserable lot none of us could survive...

when you have those dreams where you're flying, and you wake up just in time to catch yourself from hitting the ground, do you ever wonder what might've happened if you hadn't made it in time? falling is a wonderful feeling, but the oncoming earth is a frightening thought.

Also the line the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar keep repeating to each other when Morpheus and Neo are on the roof of a building in the loading program. The "leap of faith" trial is supposed to make it blatantly obvious to the newly awakened that the laws of reality truly do not apply any more....and by the same token, that they are still hung up on the laws they've been forced to deal with all their lives.

So you see, riding a bicycle for the first time is a lot like jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the matrix for the first time. Let's compare the simiarities:

• Everyone falls the first time
• Don't worry. If you fall, the ground will turn to rubber and bounce you back up, greatly reducing the amount of damage you suffer through.
• Laurence Fishburne is gladly willing to demonstrate either for anyone who asks
• Learning to do either will help fight the super-intelligent robots that have enslaved us with their squid-like tentacles.

The first time you ride a horse, hopefully, you won't fall off. Hopefully, you were given a nice, calm older horse. But one day, if you graduate from said older horse and ride something younger you will fall off. This is a fact. Perhaps it won't be serious; a bruise, you'll be a little shaken up, you'll get back on and be fine. Perhaps, you're first time you'll get a sprain. A broken bone. Need plaster. But hopefully, you'll get back on. The first time I fell off a horse, it shied at a plastic bag and attempted to gallop sideways. It wasn't until he realized how impossible that is that he tried to turn, and I tipped over his shoulder. In the world of horses, they say it takes seven falls to make a rider. I'm not so sure. Really, the best rider would never fall off. They would stay with the horse, move with it and balance their weight depending on a buck, or a rear, or a shy.

The first time a horse bucks, you should learn they way its body moves and, though you fall off that time, you stay on the next time. If you are a good rider.

The first time the horse rears, you may not grab its mane fast enough, so you would fall off. But the next time, you would have learnt, and you will stay on.

The first time the horse shies, you would feel its body bend to the side and gasp at the speed with which your horse whips around and runs away. But the next time, you would not fall off.

The next time, you would never tip over the shoulder because of a faulty canter. You won't roll off at a refused jump. You won't collapse into the midst of a dozen racing horses. Because you will learn.

But you don't learn. That's a fact. If you fall off once, you will fall off again. And when you fall off, don't check for mundane things like whether your legs are still bent the right way or if your skull is in one piece. You should be thinking two things: "Catch horse. Get back on horse." Every time you get off, you must get back on. The only exception to the rule is if someone runs up to you with a white face screaming at the people behind them "Call an ambulance!!" You don't consider not getting back on. If you've fallen once, you'll fall again. But if you've never fallen, you're one lucky bastard, or you should get off the merry-go-round.