Of Lifters and Climbers

Along the side of a road was a tall cliff. From the top of the cliff hung a rope.

A friendly, hard working man, a good family man by all standards with a penchant for beer and companionship with friends and clan, walked along the road and saw the rope. He reached up for it but it was out of his reach. He jumped up to try to grab it but the rope simply taunted his strong meaty hands by dancing away from his finger tips. “I can’t reach it,” He said and rested beneath it leaning against a rock.

Another man came along the road, smaller than the first, thin and wiry, with backpack and a spring in his step. He travelled alone on his great adventure, with all that he would need on his back. He did not notice the other man sitting as his eyes were focused on the rope. As he got closer a curious smile of ambition crossed his lips and dreams of possibilities filled his eyes.

“Hello, friend,” said the large man as the thin man almost stepped on him.

“Oh! Excuese me! I am so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The thin man made his excuses as he stopped himself from walking right over the resting man.

“I noticed. You seem focused on that rope. Come, sit a while. You look like an interesting fellow. Tell me about yourself.”

The thin man took off his backpack and set it on the ground, and then sat on it, facing the other man, but his eyes kept stealing peeks at the rope as he spoke. “Well, I come down this road every day and try and grab the rope. One day I will be able to, but it eludes me.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t reach it either. But tell me about you. Do you have any family?”

“I have a wife, but I have not seen her in some time while on my journey.”

“That is too bad friend. A night without a soft bed and a softer woman is a difficult night best left to younger men. Not men our age. What are you journeying for?”

The thin man sneaked a peek again at the rope. “I am off to make my mark on the world, to leave something behind for others, a legacy of some sort, something great to share with my wife and with the world.”

The large man laughed. “Well, I think that that could be handled well enough with children don’t you? I have nine, and believe me, I have certainly left my mark on the world through them. Two of them have their own children now, so my legacy is assured. You should try it.”

The thin man smiled sheepishly, “my wife isn’t ready for that yet, besides, children would be difficult for my journey.”

The large man slapped his thigh. “Listen friend, I have been married 4 times, I will tell you how you do it. You stop your journey and go home, you walk in, you tell her to get you a beer, and then you tell ‘you need to get busy and give me a couple of kids.’ Who wears the pants in your family anyway?”

The thin man smirked at the comment, but decided to let it go. He respected his wife. He was not so sure the same could be said about this conversation partner. “And that works for you?”

“Sure does. Used it all four times, and have the kids to prove it.” He straightened up a bit in pride at his accomplishment.

The thin man looked back at the rope for a moment then stood up, picking up his backpack. “Say, would you be willing to do me a favor?”

The other smiled “Of course friend, anything. What can I do for you?”

Slipping on his backpack back onto his shoulders, the thin man looked up at the rope. “I have been trying to get a hold of that rope for a long time.” You look very strong. Would you be willing to give me a lift and help me reach it?”

The large man cocked his brow. An odd one this little man. “If that’s what you want. But I don’t see the point. Not much up there I figure.” He stood and wove his fingers together to offer a foothold for the other. The thin man stepped into the foothold and stood up on it as the large man lifted him. The thin man grabbed hold of the rope and cried out with joy “I got it!” He then started up the rope, climbing with all his strength up the side of the cliff. It was slow at first but then he got momentum and was scaling the wall quite quickly.

The large man watched him “Well I’ll be. A good climber that little guy.” Eventually he saw that the climber wasn’t going to stop. He called out to him. “Hey buddy, you are getting pretty high. You will get hurt when you fall. You might want to come down.”

“I can’t,” answered the other. “If I stop or try to go back down, I will fall, that is certain. I have to keep going up!” There was joy and excitement in his voice, and just a hint of nervousness.

“You’ll never make it. No one is that lucky!”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” muttered the climber and gritted his teeth in resolve.

The large man shook his head. “The poor fool is going to get himself hurt or worse. Why would he do that? There is nothing up there anyway… is there? No one could make it all the way to the top. He is going to fall. I know it. The poor poor fool. ”

As the climber kept climbing with no sign of stopping, the other man began to resent that he was now left all alone. He had done a kindness to the guy and did not even get a thank you. In his indignance he turned away from the rope and started down the road back to his family grumbling about how ungrateful and stupid the guy had been.

In life there are lifters and there are climbers. Each knows who they are. Lifters hold up the world, and stand as the backbone of any culture. They are those who make the world work, and they are a good and proud people. Climbers are those who reach for their ambition, their dreams, their goals and are not daunted by the risks of failure. The lifter knows the world is as it is, and it works a certain way. They are masters of that way, and know that truth lies in sweat, in the hands and in the heart. Climbers seek out the new ways, questioning every limit and boundary. For them there is no barrier that cannot be breeched, if one has the cleverness, diligence and bravery to seek out the “how.”

Which are you?