Yesterday I watched camp counselors guiding a group of senior high youth through an intermediate level ropes course challenge activity. It was a pretty basic challenge–wearing a harness, climb the rope ladder and walk the elevated course of steps, platforms and wires, and then zipline your way back to the ground.
As I watched and listened to the counselors and students, I found myself choking back tears. Particularly, I watched the student from my group face an initial case of nerves as she pondered whether she would really be able to complete the challenge. The girls around her helped her get into her harness, buckle her helmet on, and string the ropes and clips around her shoulders when it was her turn. She hooked the billet clip into her harness as the counselor assured her that he would support and guide her on her way up. The counselor already up on the platform in the trees reminded her that she was watching and would help her transfer her clips to the right wire when she got to the top of the rope.
And so it went. The whole community came around this student as she faced the challenge before her. And yet, there was a point where the community could not take the step for her. Securely harnessed, supported, and encouraged, only she could step from the platform onto the swinging step a few feet away. The counselor waiting for her at the other side, himself harnessed and clipped into the tree, could encourage her and be something she could focus on…but he could not take the step for her, nor could he remove the fear or anxiety she was feeling. There was a significant aspect of this challenge she had to do on her own.
So what were the tears about? I thought about the young people I am called to work with. I thought about my siblings and friends, my nieces and nephews…all of us standing on the edge of the ledge facing the challenge of completing this course we call ‘life.’ In the best of circumstances, there is a community to guide these experiences and challenges. In the best of circumstances, young people are equipped with the support, the tools, the encouragement and the instructions they need to be successful and zipline to the end. In the best of circumstances, when they call out “climbing,” someone responds, “climb away…I’ve got your rope clipped to mine and I’m ready to support you if you fall.”
But the tears were about the reality that so many times this is not the case. This student I was watching face her fears and nerves about this ropes course challenge event is considered an ‘at risk’ youth who does not have the basic support needed to be successful. She is doing her very best, and yet due to things beyond her control, she has more challenges than most to overcome. And so my heart ached for her…wanting life to be like this ropes course challenge, but painfully aware that it is not. My heart ached for her…wanting to remove the obstacles that make her path harder than it needs to be. My heart ached for her…realizing only she can take the step forward.
This student faced her fear and finished the course. Step by step she worked her way across the swinging steps and platforms, guided by wires and ropes and the words of affirmation and encouragement from those around her. When she transferred her clip onto the zipline wire she called out, “watch me, I’m scared!” and the adult at the end of the wire called back, “I’m watching!” She did it. And when the counselor asked if anyone wanted to do the course again, she said, “I think I want to do it again.”
Oh, friend…we’re watching…