Speech 04

Hello ladies and gentlemen my name is BLANK and I am here because I am a risk taker. Have you ever heard the expression "if they jumped off a bridge would you too?" My answer was a nervous "yes" to a free-fall jump off a bridge. This decision was a life changing one.

It was a hot and humid day and my friends and I were out cycling for a few hours to fill in time. After a while we reached a foot bridge that was suspended over water. We all stopped before it. Suddenly my best friend turned around and said "I dare you to jump off the bridge." Not to say anything, but I have a huge fear of heights. I have had it since when I went for a short, noisy and scary flight in a light aircraft when I was five. I have problems just going up in an elevator let alone jumping off a bridge.

I could see other people jumping off and screaming while they fell towards the water. The noise from the screams was making it worse for me as it was causing my stomach to tighten and making me feel sick. So I decided to take the easy way out of this situation without embarrassing myself in front of my friends. "Yes, ok" I said nervously. "But, only if you jump first." I added. He said "fine" then got off his bike and put it down and said to look after it. He then made his way to the side of the bridge and stood up on the rail. He waved to us and then he just jumped. No fear or hesitation. He just jumped! I was amazed and then I hear a splash. Oh no! So much for the easy way out of this situation. I had assumed that he would decline and it would be left at that. We watched him swim back to the shore and then he went out of sight. I knew it was my turn next.

A few minutes later he reappeared triumphantly and announced that it was my turn to jump now that he had completed his end of the dare. With the spotlight on me and the pressure building as my friends cheered me on I decided that there was no way out and that it was time to face my fears and conquer them. I walked towards the side of the bridge, my heart pounded heavily and my whole body was shaking as fear built up and started to restrict me from moving but I slowly edged my way there. I looked over the side at the huge drop in front of me to the water. I instantly crouched down and quivered in fear at the height I would be jumping from without anything to pull me back up like if I was going on an apparently safer bungee jump with