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<p><strong>Jumping though hoops. How much of succeeding in life is just jumping through them? No matter how simple or complex, how useful or ridiculous?</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Take the test; get a passing grade. Fill out the application; send it in on time. Show up: for class, for work, for the dance, the wedding, the birth of your children – and all the little events up to their graduations, for their weddings.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Rise every morning; brush, shave and dress. Watch your speed when the cops are out. Pay the ticket when you forget, and do traffic school to keep your record clear and the insurance low. Send the bill before they assess the usurious late charge. Jumping through hoops.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Silly as they are, hoops are necessary for us to function in a society or group. Yet they are not the essence, not the really important things.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>We don’t live for the routine, but for the amplitude we can get from its bounce. We need a platform from which to jump. Then we strive for the outliers, for the remarkable, for things far beyond the basic day-to-day hoops.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Sometimes we get there. Sometimes we fall back. Hoops are just the free throws, the starting point, the ante to get in the game. Gotta make those – or the drugs, alcohol, divorce, under-employment or loneliness will get you.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Hoops. From that basis, life soars. Jump through the hoop; hit the ground running; show yourself what you can do!</strong></p>
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