My boy Aesop wrote one of the great all time fables that I would like to share with my friends; the awesome members of the OCIE Yosemite Hike Team Chapter of TNT. I feel like this is a very appropriate story that needs to be told to send us off on our journey to Yosemite no matter which different hikes we all end up taking on June 19th. We have all had our successes and our struggles throughout this long process of training to be the best long distance hiker that each of us can individually be, and we have ALL put forth our best efforts to get in shape for Yosemite. Without further adieu, here is: "The Hare and the Tortoise" from Aesop's Fables as told by Margaret Clark.
A hare was one day making fun of a tortoise. "You are a slowpoke," he said. You couldn't run if you tried.""Don't laugh at me," said the tortoise. "I bet that I could beat you in a race."
"Couldn't," replied the hare.
"Could," replied the tortoise.
"All right," said the hare. "I'll race you. But I'll win, even with my eyes shut."
They asked a passing fox to set them off.
"Ready, set, go!" said the fox.
The hare went off at a great pace. He got so far ahead he decided he might as well stop for a rest. Soon he fell fast asleep.
The tortoise came plodding along, never stopping for a moment.
When the hare woke up, he ran as fast as he could to the finish line.
But he was too late-the tortoise had already won the race!
In this story the hare chose to engage with his opponent by calling him names. He called the tortoise a "slowpoke", but in his arrogance, he gassed himself out early in the race and could not continue. Instead of encouraging the seemingly slow tortoise, he decided to boost his own ego by trying to make his opponent feel bad about himself, but in the end it was the hare who made himself look foolish. The tortoise on the other hand showed extreme perseverance and humbly took first place in the race because he had the will to keep going and never give up! Of the two, I hold the utmost respect for the tortoise, and not for getting 1st place! He knew he could do it, but he didn't feel the need to make someone else feel bad as a tactic to win.
Now we all know that as hike team members we are not in a race, as much as it may have felt like at times, and we are not (suppose to be) in competition with one another. Please understand before I say the following that I do not use the term 'tortoise' in any way to imply anyone is slow. I use this term as a reference of respect for anyone who has persevered through all of these challenging hikes and cared about the members of your TEAM, no matter what speed you may hike or if you were physically capable of summiting those peaks or not. I consider myself to be a proud tortoise, and so should you! To all of the tortoises on our team, hold your head high for never giving up and for pushing yourselves as hard as you could (and then some) to climb some of the highest mountains California has to offer (literally and figuratively)! I thank you all for the positivity, support, character, encouragement and respect you have shown your fellow tortoises. Congratulations on keeping this a positive experience for each other and for never losing sight of the reason why we are all doing this, to cure blood cancers.
Update: The tortoise has since joined some of his teammates of tortoises who will be climbing Half Dome even though he did not get picked by his coach to go. He had to pay out of pocket to stay an extra day in Yosemite, but he will have his dignity and pride in tact as he reaches the top of Half Dome one day later than he planned on! He no longer feels the need to hide inside his shell when a rude little name calling hare that can't even finish "races" get picked to climb Half Dome instead of him and the rest of his proud tortoise heram!
God speed (no pun intended) and best of luck to you all in Yosemite!!! WE MADE IT, WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!
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