Fellow Climbers Are People Too

I was walking through a mall the other day and noticed that all the mannequins in the stores were faceless.  I guess I've seen that before but it struck me differently this time for some reason.

Apparently the store owners want us to focus on the clothing so the designers simply take away anything on the face that would attract our eyes there.  Makes sense if you're selling a product.

However, climbers of rock or life's challenges are people. They do have faces . . . and stories, hurts and joys. They're all different but they're all real. And they need us to look them in the eye, treat them as humans and at least try to touch their soul in some way.  And we need them too.

I've always appreciated the men and women I've met on trails and climbs.  For the most part they stop and talk, offer you a suggestion or advice and even share their supplies with you if you need them. Some are average looking while others are the unique climber-types that they are.

You see people are people and we probably know that. But sometimes we tend to think of and describe people by their mountain instead of who they are. She's the woman with cancer, he's the alcoholic, she's the lady grieving or he's the guy whose wife is splitting up with him.

When we see our fellow climbers as humans we make the mountain secondary to our relationship with them. We talk to them, we listen, we engage them about their journey but we don't allow the journey to become our only focus.

We hurt with them but we also celebrate the successes.  We speak of deeper things like faith, peace, the unknowns and our dreams. We remind each other that life is really about connection with each other and the God who made us. And when we do that we'll see faces again.