Committing to Maybe

When I was nine years old I landed flat on my back on the water from a five meter diving platform. I knocked the wind out of myself. I was trying to do a flip. The sound I recall when I slammed against the water is something around an aggressive high-five, that distinctive thwap that lets you know something is being celebrated with enthusiasm or, in my case, something has gone terribly wrong and you will spend the next 30 seconds drifting to the edge of the pool, wondering if you’ll ever breath again, and regretting all of the terrifically important things a nine-year-old can regret.

That sound resonates in my mind as it will resonate with Christine Blasey Ford.

I landed on the water on my back because I didn’t commit to the flip. Lack of confidence. I committed halfway, and halfway is where I wound up. In other words: not a flip.

A few months ago, Blasey Ford climbed to the top of a five-meter diving platform. She looked over. She tried to flip. She sent a letter to ranking democratic m…