Thursday, July 10, 2008

of Everest and Lego

I’m not a mountaineer. I haven’t even reached any mountain peak, but there’s something about Mt. Everest that evokes bizarre emotions from me. After watching a movie about a blind man (Erik Weihenmayer) scaling Everest last night, I have reached a decision. No, I’m not planning on conquering Everest. I decided to determine my own summit. A line in the movie which struck me is “What’s your summit?” I fell in love with the movie after hearing that line. Nothing ground-breaking, just a simple statement, each individual has a different summit to scale.

Like little children given a set of Lego blocks to work with. Each is given a unique set, no set alike. Some may be given enough Lego blocks to build a mountain, while, some may just have been given enough to build a hill. So our summits are expected to be different. Erik’s Dad summit is the Everest base camp. After reaching that, he turned back, that’s how far his Lego blocks can take him. And he was happy and satisfied. For him, that is the top of his world.

Erik was not given his sense of sight, (that’s one big chunk of Lego missing!), not a prerequisite to mountain climbing but it is critical. He was given much less than what most of us have been given. His summit can just be learning how to wall climb but he decided it to be much higher, as a matter of fact, the highest peak in the world.

Each person’s summit is not only determined by his own set of Lego blocks but also by his determination to go beyond his limitations and stretch the resources he’s been given. God-willing, a person’s summit can only be as high as his vision and his own belief on himself.

Your summit can be Mt. Everest itself or it can be reaching your 30th birthday or going to the moon. Or it can be learning to love yourself or figuring out what to do with your life. Whatever it is, I know I just have to determine what mine is, because it’s there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thought my older brother was the only one who writes letters to his siblings after a fight! My younger sibling and I still think it's a bit "corny" but we still keep all his notes. Maybe it's all part of being the eldest in the family. You learn to be the peacekeeper, the one who gives way, and the sense of reason when things get chaotic. I know I'm not (just not my natural instinct). Pat yourself in the back, nik. I think your siblings are luckly to have you as an older sis.