Lonely at the top

Is it lonely at the top, or should I rephrase it saying, lonely in the journey and alone at the top….

No individual would be lonely at the top if he is not travelling alone in the journey to the top. Today everyone wants a quick fix to everything. In that pursuit to achieve everything quickly and with less effort, they forget to enjoy life. I agree that life poses us with difficulties and difficult situations, but imagine what our life would be if everything was at the drop of the hat. It is those difficulties that make our life beautiful. But alas! We forget to see it. We are so focused on the destination that we forget the journey and are oblivious to the fact that it is the journey that takes the most of the time; destination is just a place where we stay for some while and then we would want to climb further ahead.

Everyone wants to climb the mountain feather light. Do not want family bondage, no commitments, no time to celebrate and no time to raise a family. Let me refer to the age old story of The Hare and The Tortoise. We twist it a little, here the Hare represents a care free selfish, career oriented person climbing alone and the Tortoise is represented by a person trying to climb the ladder along with his responsibilities. The Hare certainly would be a leader for a while and would also laugh and make fool of the Tortoise of being stupid of climbing with people. Now here is the twist, the Hare was busy climbing and running his way through the mountain, he failed to admire the beauty that  the mountains had to offer, he did see a beautiful waterfall emerging, but thought, ‘let me not waste time, I shall get all these at the top. Reaching to the top is important.’ He also met a Bear on the way, who invited him to his house, but the Hare had only one thing in the mind; he declined the offer thinking," I shall have many Bears waiting to call me to their place once I am at the top."

Now let’s see what happens to the Tortoise. Poor tortoise was climbing at his own speed. He also saw the mountain and the perfect landscape that the mountains had to offer. He knew that he was very slow and the Hare was ahead but even then, he stopped for a while to enjoy the beauty of the nature. He thanked the Hare from his heart for encouraging him to climb this much. Winning or losing was never in his mind. He was just enjoying the journey. He also met Bear and the Bear invited him over. He accepted the invitation and they became good friends. Bear then introduced him to some of his other friends. All of them accompanied the Tortoise in his journey saying that he was new to the place and was not well versed with the road. While they were climbing, the Bear got hurt in his foot and so everyone waited till he was fine.The Tortoise took the bear on his shoulder till the time he was able to walk on his own. They did waste time, but they did not seem to mind it.

Meanwhile, the Hare reached the top all exhausted, tired and alone. He wanted to scream and celebrate his victory, but Alas! Where was the family and where were the friends? They were so far that even if he would have screamed his throat out, they wouldn’t have heard him. Not disappointing, he thought of making new friends. Little did he know that there is not much place at the top and only one person can stand.  He was lonely in the journey and alone at the top. He could see the world beneath clearly but he had reached so high that the world could not see him.

On the other side, the Tortoise was slowly and steadily climbing the mountain. The Hare soon realized his mistake and thought of taking the journey backward and get some of his friends up there with him. The irony of success ladder is that you meet the same people on your way down which you met on your way up. Having said that I need not say what happened to the Hare.

The Tortoise slowly made his way to the top and he had his friends and family with him to scream and celebrate his success. They never needed to look down as their world was right there with them and they started enjoying their stay as much as they had enjoyed their journey.

It is in our hands whether we like to climb like a Hare or a Tortoise. Even if we chose to climb like a Tortoise, I guarantee that we would reach to the top but take a longer time than the Hare.

The choice is ours either we are lonely in the journey and alone at the top or visa versa. Make the most of the time that you have with your family, believe me, you would not enjoy your victory without them. Your kids would get busy in their own world and would begin their journeys to climb their own mountains. If you want them to take you along in their journey, then first, you take them along with you in yours.... They are the ones who would celebrate your success and scream for your victory.

Poor are the people who reach to the top alone as they have lost everything on their way in order to travel feather light....

Think about it.......