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To Be Great
Submitted by Mr. Hernandez, Counselor
Labor Day weekend as all of you know is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday of September. It honors the American Labor Movement and it has been a day reserved to recognize the worker. Over the last few years, I have spent this day rewarding myself hiking out in nature. I do so to enjoy the beauty of nature, bond with friends, and to test my endurance. I have discovered that the trail has a funny way of teaching me important life lessons.
I want to share with you three profound lessons on greatness that I learned by simply hiking with friends.
My friends are kind, giving, loyal, and fun to be around. This past Labor Day Weekend we headed out to Mammoth Lakes. Mammoth is a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is known for its ski resorts, bike trails, hiking trails, and fishing. This particular weekend our objective was to hike to the Devils Post Pile, Rainbow falls, and the Inyo Craters. We woke up at the crack of dawn and headed out to the trails. On our journey thru the woods my friends and I laughed, we shared snacks, and we hurt together. The sights and sounds on the trail were majestic. The climbs at time were challenging but by early evening together we had accomplished our objective and decided to head back to our campsite. There we broke bread, lit a campfire, and talked for a bit.
In life we have the ability to make many choices. One the most important choices we’ll ever make is who we choose to surround ourselves with.
Lesson #1: If you want to be great, start off by surrounding yourself with great people.
While waiting in line for the shuttle bus back to Mammoth we met a thru-hiker. A rare breed, thru-hikers typically embark on long and difficult journeys that can take up to five months to complete. This particular thru-hiker was hiking from the Canadian border all the way down to the Mexican border. She was doing the famed Pacific Coast Trail. A total of 2,653 miles.
We were impressed with her high level of energy and enthusiasm after having hiked 30 plus miles on this particular day. We started some small talk about her experience. We soon discovered that she was no average thru-hiker. She had hiked the PCT before and several other tough thru-hikes. She was spirited, jovial, and eager to share her knowledge about hiking with us. After a few minutes, we formally introduced ourselves and we learned this amazing super humans name was Clara A.K.A “RedFeather”, from Canada eh. The 40 minutes we spent talking to Clara on the bus ride were insightful. My friends and I surrounded her like school children do a teacher ready to give out candy. We bombarded her with questions about her gear, the hikes she’s done, and the lessons she learned on the trail.
I specifically asked Clara one question. What is the most important lesson the trail has taught you? Clara looked at me with a big smile nodding her head in affirmation and simply said, “Humility.”
Clara went on to explain how the trail has humbled and grounded her. She left an impression on us on that bus ride without trying to be impressive. She also had a modest view of her extraordinary accomplishments on the trail.
This is an important lesson for us all. Be humble. In a day and age when the norm is to exalt yourself. Instead properly humble yourself in life so that life doesn’t properly humble you.
Lesson #2: If you want to be great, be Humble.
Life on the trail is many things and I would agree with Clara that above all, it is a humbling experience. We knew the PCT would take Clara right by Tehachapi in a few weeks and my friend Gio and Ezzy offered to meet her at the trial head in Tehachapi when she arrived. They both volunteered to take her into town to re-supply and have dinner. Clara accepted their invitation for fellowship and the three exchanged Instagram accounts as we prepared to depart from the bus.
I didn’t exchange any social media with Clara because I don’t have any. I am still old school like that. As we said our good byes and got off at our stop, Gio nudged me on the shoulder to get my attention. He gave me his phone and said, “Take a look.”
As a looked down at his screen I saw the Instagram account of Clara Hughes. A picture of Clara was next to her tag line (claraannehughes) and under her name was the word “Olympic” with emoji’s of a Gold medal, Silver medal, Bronze medal, the sun, a snowflake and the Canadian flag.
It turned out that Clara was more superhuman that we all initially suspected. Clara never mentioned to us that she is one of the all-time greatest Olympians. She has won multiple Olympic medals in cycling and speed skating with a total of six medals. She is tied for the most Olympic medals in the history of Canada and is the only person ever in the history of humanity to have won multiple medals in both the summer and winter Olympics.
We were in the presences of greatness for over a half hour and we all knew it. Instinctively, we all understood that Clara was special before we really knew how great she really was. The fact the she trained countless hours and reached the pinnacle of sport speaks to her athletic greatness. The truth that she did not boast once about her accomplishments speaks to her humility. The reality that she added value to our lives by sharing her hiking stories and providing us with information about her gear and how she prepares for her thru hikes speaks of her character.
As Clara made her way south on the PCT towards Tehachapi, she stayed in communication with our friend Ezzy. True to her word, Ezzy volunteered to pick her up at the famed Tehachapi pass trailhead. The same trailhead where Cheryl Strayed, author of the New York Times Best Selling book, Wild, started her hike on the PCT trail. When Clara made it to the trailhead Ezzy was there to pick her up and drive her in to town for her re-supplies and a nice warm meal. They spent a few hours sharing stories about their adventures on the trail, talking about what it takes to compete at the highest levels, and most importantly building fellowship.
For us to complete a journey of 2,000 miles sometimes we’ll need the help from others. We can’t hike this world alone. We will need assistance to get from point A to Point B. We will need the help from our loved ones, friends, and perhaps the goodwill of strangers we meet at bus stops.
Clara said it best in a recent instagram post thanking us,” I’m so grateful for these random meetings + ever grateful for the support along the way. Thanks to each person whether I’ve met you in person or not for the encouragement, the water, the magic + the humanity. It fuels me on this long solo walk where truly I am never alone.”
Lesson #3: If you want to be great, find someone to help get across the finish line.
All of you have greatness within you. Greatness starts with you and what you choose to do.
Be great today by surrounding yourself with greatness.
Understand that to be great you must also be humble. Let others exalt you instead of exalting yourself.
It’s a tough journey this thing we call life. Look for opportunities to serve others. Help a friend, a sibling, a parent get through this journey.
If you do these 3 simple things you are well on your way to achieving your own gold medal of greatness.
Be Great Today
You can follow the adventures of Clara Hughes on Instagram: @claraannehughes