Muffit
May 15th, 2003, 05:56 PM
It would be nice if when we learned things it did not have to be the hard way. But such is life and therein lies my short story.
When I was about 16 our youth group decided to go on a hiking adventure to the Grand Canyon. I had always dreamed of seeing it in person. The sheer awe and majesty of it lured me. So I signed up and soon enough I was at the rim.
But you know the funny thing was, this was a /hiking/ trip. So we didn't do what 99% of everybody does, go to the lookout points and view the wonder from the top. Instead, we saddled up with light packs and began treading down the arduous 14 1/2 miles to the river below, never having seen what it was we were going to hike into. It was miserable. My hopes were so high that around every bend I would see the glorious cliffs - but nothing. I even ran part way, partly because of excitement and partly cuz it was so steep. Fourteen long miles in 100 degree heat, feet throbbing with pain, anxious to see what I had dreamed of.
And then I was there. At the bottom. But to my extremely disappointed eyes all I could see were a few old wooden buildings called Phantom Ranch and some terribly uninspiring foothills. As I soaked my swollen, blistered feet in a nearby stream, along with a group of girls who had come down the other rim (and worn tennis shoes not boots so their feet were bleeding profusely), I pondered this unhappy circumstance I was in. I was tired, I was aching, and I was miserable. And I had never once seen a single glimmer of those magnificent cliffs you see on TV. So I learned a lesson.
When you're at the bottom, you can't see the top.
And now, so many years later, once again I mope in disappointment and sorrow as I find that the long awaited awe-inspiring Battlestar Galactica of my youth is not going to be shown. Instead a faint shadow of what could have been will air. And around every bend of every day I hope to find it isn’t true. How could this happen? And that's when it dawns on me. I learned this lesson 30 years ago. For you see, you can't reimagine something unless you start at the bottom. And as I learned so long ago:
When you're at the bottom, you can't see the top.
It could have been wonderful.
If we just stayed at the top.
Affectionately and respectfully,
Muffit
When I was about 16 our youth group decided to go on a hiking adventure to the Grand Canyon. I had always dreamed of seeing it in person. The sheer awe and majesty of it lured me. So I signed up and soon enough I was at the rim.
But you know the funny thing was, this was a /hiking/ trip. So we didn't do what 99% of everybody does, go to the lookout points and view the wonder from the top. Instead, we saddled up with light packs and began treading down the arduous 14 1/2 miles to the river below, never having seen what it was we were going to hike into. It was miserable. My hopes were so high that around every bend I would see the glorious cliffs - but nothing. I even ran part way, partly because of excitement and partly cuz it was so steep. Fourteen long miles in 100 degree heat, feet throbbing with pain, anxious to see what I had dreamed of.
And then I was there. At the bottom. But to my extremely disappointed eyes all I could see were a few old wooden buildings called Phantom Ranch and some terribly uninspiring foothills. As I soaked my swollen, blistered feet in a nearby stream, along with a group of girls who had come down the other rim (and worn tennis shoes not boots so their feet were bleeding profusely), I pondered this unhappy circumstance I was in. I was tired, I was aching, and I was miserable. And I had never once seen a single glimmer of those magnificent cliffs you see on TV. So I learned a lesson.
When you're at the bottom, you can't see the top.
And now, so many years later, once again I mope in disappointment and sorrow as I find that the long awaited awe-inspiring Battlestar Galactica of my youth is not going to be shown. Instead a faint shadow of what could have been will air. And around every bend of every day I hope to find it isn’t true. How could this happen? And that's when it dawns on me. I learned this lesson 30 years ago. For you see, you can't reimagine something unless you start at the bottom. And as I learned so long ago:
When you're at the bottom, you can't see the top.
It could have been wonderful.
If we just stayed at the top.
Affectionately and respectfully,
Muffit