Just returning from a month of globetrotting to various
remote corners of the world, mixing mostly work with a little bit of play. I’m
grateful to all of the good people that I was fortunate enough to share time
with scampering around some wonderfully inspiring alpine settings. I never tire of witnessing my clients/friends
embrace the beauty and challenge of movement through mountainous terrain and
interfacing with the hardy local folks.
This month was truly another wonderful collection of vivid
memories and images of local villages and homes speckled on the flanks of
mountains and hills on 2 different continents. The simple life that appears
before us as we tramp through some of the more secluded regions seems so
rudimentary to most of us… with their lack of running water, cell phones and
grocery stores. It’s easy to look across the valley at one of the thatch roofed
homes with sheep and goats milling about and feel a bit of despondency for the
inhabitants at how tough their life must be.
“It must be so hard to live in such a primal way. Bless
their hearts.”
And then, if you’re lucky, you have a face-to-face encounter
with one of the locals. You see the wide smiles and note the sense of comfort
in their eyes. You feel that they need very little to be happy. Food, shelter
and family. Undoubtedly they experience pain and sorrow due to disease, crop
failure and lack of health care, but they exude this sense of being satisfied
with what they have in front of them.
On the second leg of my work month I was in Peru with a
wonderful group of Gold Star women (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_flag)
that are the living, breathing definition of resiliency. Recounting the
characteristics of these amazing women and their fortitude is another story
entirely. One of these women has been
sponsoring a Peruvian child for several years and decided she would try to meet
the child and his family while visiting the Cusco region on our adventure.
After many phone calls and much effort from her and the sponsor agency, the
meeting was arranged. The rest of the group was invited to watch and listen in
as the meeting took place. At one point during the meeting it was conveyed to
our group that this was the first time this family had left their hillside
village. The first time they had been transported by vehicle. The first time
any of them had ever been inside a building or seen Americans (or white people
for that matter). This beautiful family of 5 handled this “strange” encounter
with dignity and calmness. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it must have been
to have a group of 12 Americans sitting across from them in a hotel lobby,
smiling and asking questions about their lives. The children walked 3 miles
each way to school everyday… rain, snow or sun. They lived modestly and trusted
that the earth and Pachamama would provide all they needed to survive. These families value the opportunity to go to
school and aren’t afraid to work for it while we complain if the bus is late to
pick up our kids or our plane is delayed an hour (try walking from LA to
Chicago the next time your plane is late).
Unbeknownst to them, the world went on bustling and
careening around them.
On this same Peruvian trip I was required to medically evac
one of the participants from 13,500 ft due to a very significant medical event.
After a fairly touch and go 24 hours, complete with early morning horseback
rides and hospital visits, I finally tucked her into a hotel room in Cusco and
retreated to my own room for some much needed rest. Not sure why, but I was
inclined to turn on CNN just to see what was happening in the world.
Innocence is best served in the dark.
“500 Palestinians are now confirmed dead in Gaza”
“Israeli soldier taken hostage and tortured”
“50 combatants killed while battling over an airstrip in
Tripoli, Lybia”
“Ukrainians place blame of downed commercial airliner squarely
on Russia”
“Another commercial airplane disappears over Algiers”
“Female correspondent sexually assaulted by mob”
The news cycle played out. Then as it began to repeat… I had
had enough. It was all just vitriolic pain.
Every word contentious and coming from a place of anger and hate. Our
“civilized” world was in complete disarray with no end in sight.
I reflected back to that sweet, wonderfully naïve Quechan
family that would not even be able to relate to all the pain that their fellow
humans were inflicting on each other. They were, at that moment, just lying
down with the sunset, awaiting another day of planting, harvesting and grazing.
Nothing more.
As these travesties against humanity take place, these
families go about their business just as they have for thousands of years,
oblivious to the pain, sorrow and violence that is taking place around the
world.
I’m not suggesting that western society should disavow our
technology and cultural advancements and resort to a more “underdeveloped” way
of life … nor am I suggesting that I would trade my comfy life with my
campesino friends. I would simply ask each of us, me included, to reflect on
the simple nature of life and how we can become more civil with each other. Our needs are fundamental… food, water,
shelter and love. If we could live more simply and allow others to achieve
their basic needs, the world be a much more “civilized” place.
Climb High
Jeff
