Article April 3, 1978 Issue

Do it!

Brian Donald Webster

I once watched typical Christian Science healing evolve right under my feet. I was part of a mountain-climbing party doing some climbing on a sheer rock face of several hundred vertical feet. At three different places on the face of the rock we had to regroup. Then a single climber led the next "pitch," trailing a rope behind him that would be used to stop him in the case of a fall, and that he would use to help protect the climbers following him.

Finally the leader climbed the last pitch and reached the summit, where he quickly readied himself to help the climber who was to follow him. I was that climber.

I followed as best I could the path the leader had chosen, since it had already proved to be successful. As I neared the summit my confidence swelled, and I felt sure I had succeeded in making it to the top. But as I got to within twenty feet of the summit I saw that I still faced the most challenging obstacle of the whole climb. It was a gentle overhang—probably the most difficult obstacle for any rock-climber—and it loomed ominously in my fear-filled thoughts. My lead climber was out of sight and I felt terribly alone. Instinctively I clung to my present handholds, and then I slowly turned around to see what was behind me—or in this case what wasn't—and my fears mounted even more as I glanced down several hundred feet of sheer granite. There was no choice. I simply had to climb up.

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