What Comes After The Summit?

One of the field trips at SSP included a visit to an archaeological dig site. The weather was scorching hot and dry, and the terrain was rough and barren, except for a bunch of scary cacti. Basically, everyone was tired. After 2 hours of hiking around the site, our on-site-archaeologist asked us if we wanted to hike so more. I only heard a couple of moans and groans. But the archaeologist seemed to interpret them as “Aye, aye, captain!”

So we did hike more. We reached a fork in the trial. One would lead us back to the luxury of our bus (compared to the dig site, even the bus was a luxury) and the other would lead to a high hill. Despite being sleep deprived and completely exhausted, I decided to trek up the hill. I would rather be fatigued at the end of the climb, on top of the hill than later regret missing the experience.

Half way through the climb, I was beginning to doubt my decision. Then I looked around, if all of these people can keep going, so can I, I told myself. With the little energy I had left, I dodged the cacti and nearly crawled up the rocks. When I made it to the summit, I didn’t remember the exhaustion anymore. What I had was the most beautiful view I’ve seen in my life yet. If I could ever see 360 degrees at a time, it would be there. There were no buildings, no cars, and no digital screens blocking my vision. The glorious sun was at the zenith, but it felt more within my reach than ever before. There were many more hills surrounding the one I was standing on, waiting for someone to come discover them. And below, were the vast, empty, plains and a tiny yellow dot on it – our bus.

I once read something about perspective that’s been stuck in my head ever since. As we progress in life, our perspective changes. This change is very similar to the change in view as you climbed up a mountain. As you go higher and higher, you see more and more. When you reach the summit, you see it all. You no longer have one perspective, because you are capable of seeing everything.
When I was on top of my little hill, this idea of cubism in perspective captured my thoughts. As impressed as I had been with the concept, a little detail about it began to bother me. If the climb signified growth, is there no room for progress once you reach the summit? You certainly cannot sit on top of a mountain, basking in complacency. So what was next? My eyes followed the texture of the rock I was standing on; I saw the steep slope that led back to the plains of the Earth I came from, back to our tiny yellow bus.
I was not so sure about the concept of cubism in perspective anymore. I had my doubts and conjectures about the summit and after. My attention shifted to the lunch boxes when we finally reached the bus. I was ravenous from the arduous walk and hike.

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