time, the mountain, and its travelers

Tom cronin

MD Class of 2024

Time moves straight up the Mountain.

The Travelers cannot. It is impossible. The Mountain is too grand and treacherous for any Traveler to bend to their will.

The avalanches and falling boulders, the snakes hiding in the cracks and the fatigue of it all. These things have an intractable influence on the Travelers’ course.

It is all so daunting.

But the Travelers needn’t worry, for they cannot fall. As Time marches necessarily and unwavering up the Mountain, it carries the Travelers with it.

Even the most treacherous slopes and obstacles that the Mountain has in store can do no more than alter the Travelers’ paths, for even the mighty Mountain bows to Time.

And one mustn’t discount the will of the Travelers, for they are not so meek. They fight the Mountain to plot their own course. For the sake of beauty, discoveries to be made, beckoning ridge lines too perfect to ignore, and perhaps most of all, for the sake of other Travelers.

Still, the word – fall – exists in the vernacular of these Travelers, as they do not share the perspective of Time.

For Time, all paths lead up the Mountain, for Time makes it so. The Travelers cannot fall. They can only ever move sideways as they ascend all the same.