A few days back, I came across a line we had used some time back for a brand campaign, as part of some ambient advertising – “Let’s cut climbing stairs, but not climbing ladders”. That ended up prompting quite a surreal thought.
Of starting to climb a ladder from the time we’re kids. The first few rungs seem easy, there’s someone helping you, and you know that the same someone is there to catch you when you fall. There are others who are climbing ladders too, your friends, some of whom keep up with you while others choose a faster or slower pace. There are those who will leap, knowing all about high risks and huge rewards. There are those who know exactly how much of effort is required to reach where they want to be, and there are those who are unsure, but still know they’ve to climb.
At some point, when you have climbed quite a bit, you pause to look. You might realise that the support you had in the beginning is gone, and perhaps replaced with another one. You would look up, perhaps you now know where you have to go, and the steps and pace required to get there. Or you would look down, and see how far you’ve come up. Or you would look sideways, at friends, family, peers who have been climbing too, you might be tempted to compare and consider your efforts and results against what theirs.
And then perhaps you would just close your eyes, take a deep breath and look within – at what you have, and what you want to have. Maybe you’ll find yourself dissatisfied and might want to climb a bit more. Or you’ll decide that you quite like the place you’re at, and this is as good a final destination as there can be, you’ll choose to enjoy the view from where you are and perhaps help those who haven’t been able to climb as much as you have, or those who want to climb higher than you have. Maybe you would decide to climb a bit more and then decide.
The choice would be yours. After all, its your ladder, and your climb, and the top rung is where you decide it will be. The only thing you really don’t know is the journey time.
until next time, an alarm rung….
Good one.
There’s also the choice of wanting to climb down too. Sometimes there is a satisfaction in seeing how far up one can go, and then having touched that place, one can always come down to the ground.
..and on the blog today “Stairway to Heaven” https://manuscrypts.com/?p=1704 🙂
And then there will be those who refuse to climb… stay where they are.. stagnant while they wait for others to fail and join them… without having known the joy of it all… the essence of taking a risk, the pride in braving a fall… and they’ll live there or die.. who’ll know the difference..
Healthy food for thought this..
Both stairs and ladders are crutches, man-made support systems with predictability and order built in.
If you must climb, climb a mountain without a harness and with nature’s unpredictable offering. It is harder on the calves and shins (depending on how out of shape you are) but the views are more spectacular no matter where you decide to pitch your tent for a while or for ever.
@Shefaly:
You beat me to saying exactly that (in concept) 🙂 But you said it a lot better than how I probably would have!
@Manu:
//The choice would be yours. After all, its your ladder, and your climb, and the top rung is where you decide it will be. //
No it won’t. The only choice you make is that it’s the ladder you want to climb. After that, it’s those above & below, some trying to push you down, some waiting for you to go higher so they can get to the next rung, or often wait in limbo while everybody stagnates. And at the end of it, it’s only this high one could go, in the confines of a narrow path.
No ladders for me, thank you, Like S said, if I must climb, it’d be the mountain. If not, I’ll get my cheap thrills from the ground, watching the petty political circus on the rungs 😉
g
rads: true, would it be too difficult to give up though?
shantanu: but isn’t that a choice? depending on one’s abilities/thoughts/perceptions? can he be really faulted for that, so long as he’s not affecting others’ progress?
shefaly: erm, surreal thought inspired by real line.. but a view, nevertheless.. as always, ladders for those who prefer order, and mountains for those who don’t…
g: i’d be the first to say that there definitely are factors outside your control, but there’s still a whole lot of choice in deciding how much control you have on your own path – ladder or mountain or escalator or whatever.. the factor that you mentioned – others – pushing you down/stagnate/limbo etc, for me is a choice.. it still remains my ladder, my climb and my top rung.. it ceases to be only if i get affected by others.. that, to me, is a choice, one that i have to make..