Others

I took a few days off to climb Grandfather Mt in North Carolina and had a most wonderful experience. I had arrived at the McRaes Peak my usual destination. A while afterwards Marie, arrived, a delightful and engaging woman from Great Britan. We started chatting and were soon telling stories to each other. Soon afterwards David clambered up the ladder to the peak and was immediately involved in the conversation. We bonded quickly.

The next peak over was Calloway’s Peak. I had never done that because the climb is challenging and somewhat dangerous, so I never tried alone. However both Marie and David were deciding to give it a try. I was still unsure until Marie and David were leaving and Marie look me directly in the eyes and said, “I’ll see you on Caloway.”

Those words had a great impact and I made the decision to join them. We decided that we would take on the challenge and committed as a group. It was an experience none of us will forget. Through the difficult climb, we supported each other physically and emotionally. It was an experience in being with others that I difficult to put into words. A lot of caring and love. We made it back down to the trailhead at 4:40Pm. They start a search group at 5pm if you’re not back at the trailhead, we just made it. It was a total of about seven hours of serious hiking/climbing.

I am in awe of the experience. Lots of insights, and a reaffirmation of how humans, complete strangers, can come together to accomplish something they couldn’t or wouldn’t do on their own. The view from the peak was spectacular!

Gautama the Buddha always pointed to Sangha as one of the greatest supports for a human seeking to examine themselves. More in future posts.

Take care of you today,

Bryan Wagner