We will never know if George Mallory was the first man to climb Everest.When asked just before the climb on the north east col where he disappeared for ever in 1924,why he wanted to climb Everest,his reply,"Because Its There" are not only the most famous three words spoken in mountaineering,they also illustrate why man as an animal(sic)has attained the numero uno status on the planet.
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
- Edgar Allan Poe
Are we not all dreamers?some more restless than others,but restless nevertheless.We may not wander the oceans to discover continents like Columbus did or travel the continents like Ibn Batuta,or be the first woman to fly an airplane - Amelia Earhart.
Yet,there lies in all of us a certain yearning,an urge to do things that we feel are beyond our abilities,fears that are beyond our control.
How many try?I mean really try!
Most are afraid of failing,some of the shame of failing,a few of the fear of failure.Those miniscule,minute minority that truly Lives without ego become the Thor HeyerDahls who ride the Oceans with their Kon Tikis.
The true titans who we worshipped as Apollo,Athena,Artemis,Zeus....the true Greek Gods.Fear and Dreams that push us in disproportionate avenues and the half that dominates gives us our personality.
I have known true fear a few times....being chased by an enraged Elephant at Betla Wildlife Santuarty,an icy,dark night on the Kedarkantha Mountain,attack by a Himalayan Black Bear in Garwhal.First,it was simply a relief that I had survived.Second, the fear of having felt fear,third,the question of whether I had behaved as expected.
Cette clarté sombre qui tombe des étoiles - Pierre Corneille
This dark brightness that falls from the stars
Fear is a creative urge,it makes me explore the limits of my abilities and it makes me feel alive.I cannot claim to know how you the Reader have felt or how you understand your dreams through your fears.I certainly am trying to to come to terms with mine!
And it feels like a half awakened dream where the real story lies just beyond comprehension.
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