Answer:
Ambitious people will climb the social version of this contraption.
Timid or weak people are said to not have these.
What leaps one time out of four?
Almost everyone needs it, asks for it, gives it. But almost nobody takes it.
I'm a long curved fruit that grows in clusters and has soft pulpy flesh and yellow skin when ripe.
I am the fountain from which no one can drink. For many I am considered a necessary link. Like gold to all I am sought for, but my continued death brings wealth for all to want more.