Page 31 - Contrast1999

fixed by the speed at which he was climbing. Her
scream brought me back, and even seemed to make
him hesitate. Both her feet had slipped from the
mountain, and she was hanging by only one hand.
"Help her!" I yelled. I began to climb
madly toward her. After a moment's pause, he
began to climb again. I stopped and looked up at
him. He turned to me and I saw the look in his
eyes and I knew then. I continued as fast as I could
to climb to her, but I already knew. When she lost
her grip, I was still fifty feet from her. I won't
bother to describe my feelings at that moment be-
cause no words can express them. But you may
yet understand.
He continued to climb, and I was helpless
but to watch him. Nothing I could do would save
her. He had nearly reached the absolute peak of
the mountain, an arm's width of rock pointing
straight up. I knew he had to touch the tip, to com-
~letely conquer the mountain. Nothing could stand
In the way of this. Finally he was within reach of
the top. He glanced down at me, and even from
that distance I could see his eyes, but no longer the the mountain is all I need. He needed the moun-
eyes of my friend, no longer anything I could rec-
ognize. He turned back toward the peak and
reached for the tip. He grabbed the highest place
on the mountain and once again looked down to
~e. He was not anything I knew anymore, noth-
Ing I could associate with my experience anywhere.
When the point he was clutching began to
crumble, I knew. As I watched him fall past me, I
knew. I could only begin my slow descent to the
bottom of the mountain, where I was found some
time later."
"Ah, I ...I'm terribly sorry for your loss of
two people so close to you. That must be ..."
"Still you don't understand."
"I am trying, but your story is so incred-
ible."
"Incredible? I don't think that's true. But
you may."
"You kept saying 'I knew.' What did you
know?"
"What did I know? What you may never.
You and he and everyone else confuse the moun-
tain with life. They are not the same. Sometimes
we are so caught up in words that we begin to live
in the metaphors and forget the reality. I did not
climb that mountain for the sake of the mountain.
I had no need to reach the top. The climbing of
tain, needed the top."
"Do you mean that you are content to go
halfway and not finish your journey?"
"I told you. The top is not reachable."
"But your friend, he reached it."
"And where is he?"
"Uh ...I'm sorry."
"There is no need to be sorry. He got what
he wanted. The top became his all. No man can
reach the top without knowing that he is climbing,
and no one who knows he is climbing would ever
want to reach the top."