To the Top

November 18, 2015

When I first came to Parkview, I was the assistant to a brilliant and formidable coach who became a very dear friend.  He imparted all manner of nuggets to me in the two years we worked together, before he handed me the reigns.  One such favorite story was this (with apologies for an inaccuracy here or there):

A remarkable extemporaneous speaker of Brett’s made it into the final round at Nationals.  It is an arduous journey to this spot.  Ben was a genius, as I remember him.  He was riled by nothing: unassuming with an understated and searing wit.  His father was a local judge who minced no words and did so loudly and with genuine affection.  As Brett tells it, Ben called his dad before he competed in that final round.  His father recalled to Ben a hiking trip they had been on together when they reached a point en route to the peak of a particularly daunting mountain when they realized fog covered the mountain top.  They had hiked for hours, only to have their destination muddled by fog.  On that trip, Ben’s Dad looked at him and said, “we didn’t come this far not to get to the the top of this g*ddamn mountain.”  At this point in the phone conversation, his father paused.  “Ben, you didn’t come this far not to get to the top of this g*ddamn mountain.”

Ben proceeded to win that final round of extemporaneous speaking.  Because the scores were cumulative from all prior rounds, he ended up placing 2nd in the nation.  But he still reached the top.

I have recalled that story many times for a variety of reasons and occasions. It’s a charmer.  And it’s true.

We all have a mountain, a series of hills, falls down cliffs to be scaled up again.  That’s the nature of the beast. 

The good news is that, just when the peak is in sight but the air is thin, a burst of oxygen can give us the push we need to keep climbing.  

After all, we've come this far...