I stand on this mountain top and I wonder. The years have long since passed, and it seems like an eternity since I’d last been here. How could time have gone by so quickly? The air up here is fresh, clean, if a bit on the thin side. How I missed that refreshing feeling it gave me to simply breath in and out. It was comforting just hearing the mountain dirt crunch under my feet, funny I didn’t appreciate that the first time I came up here. The vegetation hasn’t changed much. Still as sparse as ever. But, ah, the view! I can see the forest below, sprawled out before me like a giant carpet. There’s also that winding river, I can’t remember it’s name. I never could. It snakes through the trees and glimmers from the sun’s rays. I was always amazed how it looked so small from here, but that, in fact, it is huge up close. The whole thing is just enough to take my breath away. When I first came up here, I remember being so scared. I kept thinking what a long drop down it was, and how painful it would be falling to the ground below. Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that I had more things to be afraid of then falling. It’s strange how fear causes us to miss the beauty of the moment. I wish I had just taken a moment to look out and see the view, instead of rushing up this mountain. I’m older now, so much older. It was hard just getting this far up and I’m truly not even close to the snow covered peak. I don’t think one person has ever come to this mountain and regretted it, not one. Though all who’ve been up distinctly remember regretting going up. The climb was hard and treacherous, often causing you to bruise or break something from one small slip. I remember seeing someone after they’d fallen a short distance. What a horrid sight! Poor man, he was bloodied and torn in so many places. I didn’t stop to help though. I should have, but I was too busy climbing to stop, even for that poor soul. I went to that place not to long ago, where I had seen him. Would you believe it? I found that very same man there, only standing up straight, and not a scare that I could see from that awful fall. I asked him how he’d survived, I was a bit curious after all. He told me a kind soul had stopped and helped him. The moment he said that I turned bright red with embarrassment. Though I had plenty of logical reasons at the time, I could not for the life of me, come up for a good excuse for my actions. I had had a perfect opportunity to help him, and had not because of my selfish ambitions. If only I had known at the time that the whole point of the journey was to unlearn all those selfish ambitions. I apologized to that man, telling him that I could have helped if I’d wanted to. Somehow I expected him to be upset at me, but he wasn’t. From what he said, it was good that I hadn’t stopped and helped. I had been going up after all, not down. I wouldn’t have done him any good. I would have just caused him more pain, all people going up tended to do that. He had been taken care of by somebody going down and they had done a fine job. I wish I knew who that person had been, I would have kissed them! He was right, I suppose. I remember someone once coming off that mountain, they were like nothing I’d ever seen before. They were strong and healthy. I got that person to stop and talk to me for a while. They had been incredibly smart too. When I came back down, did I look like that person I wonder? I don’t remember changing. Though I do remember going down and seeing someone going up. They had been so weak and broken down. I felt such sympathy for them… Probably why I stopped and helped them up a ways. THE END