Hillary Clinton once said that
"It takes a village"
in reference to raising our kids.
She was exploring the notion of
embodying resilience,
of recognizing we're members of the same tribe,
of our mutual responsibilities to the
recognizing the importance of the other.
Notice, too, that embodying
has the word body as part of its' letters.
body. somebody. anybody. everybody !
the web of nature finds us sharing so much
more than sounds and colors, appetites
and agonies, laughs and lusts.
we are the village.
we are a single musical note within the score.
when Bette and I sought to climb Quandry Peak,
the highest summit in Colorado's Tenmile Range,
standing at 14,271 feet, we weren't thinking
about the village.
we weren't thinking about our relationships
with others.
we weren't thinking about caring for others.
at the moment of beginning our ascent from the dirt
parking area, we saw a sign that said there are no
easy 14'ers. We thought we'd walk up the hill.
and then, the walk became serious.
it was no cake walk, that's certain,
as i reflect on the effort.
scree slopes; huge rocks; few flat sections and those only for mere feet;
hours of up and up looming over us in the distant clouds.
each step and a foot tilted and angled and, sometimes, slid.
one step followed another. higher altitude with less oxygen caused
our breathing to become labored. heaving chests. no air.
we weren't thinking about the village.
Until, that is, descending climbers passed by with words
of encouragement. "You've got this!" they said.
still, fatigue set in.
we stopped many times, trying to slow our heart rates,
catch our fleeing breath, again and again and again.
One passing couple suggested to Bette she should think short term:
take a couple of ascending steps
and then pause. it was a good strategy. It worked.
Another older gentleman told us that he already made several prior
attempts to reach the summit and failed. This was his third try
and he made it. He was elated at the success, proud and injected us both
with a renewed sense of optimism.
"You've got this!"
"Just a little ways to go!" said others.
"you're almost there!"
We realized we were on a group effort.
The distance to the summit was closer, reachable.
and, yes, eventually we did stand on the summit in gratitude,
sitting down for a long while,
soaking in the amazing views which stretched
for dozen of miles overlooking surrounding peaks and steep
valleys. How did we manage?
I'm convinced we couldn't have made it on our own.
it was what strangers provided us as they spoke up and smiled.
feelings of support. encouragement. connection.
yes, it was what we had inside of us, but equally important\
was what was between us and around us.
"You got this!"
"It takes a village!"
