Hurrah! An 80-year-old man has climbed to the top of Mt. Everest. If he and I could go back in time to attend the same institution of learning, I would be ready to graduate while he was still in middle school. Whereas I find it hard just to climb out of bed in the morning, his ascent to the top of a cloud-wrapped peak was a personal triumph of the highest order. Except, however, for the money earned by those who in any way helped in his mad mission, what he did was of no practical value. When I face the challenge of getting up in the morning, my intention is to do something useful such as composing a newspaper column or cutting my toenails.
The most important consideration about challenges is their purpose. Do we dare to do what seems almost undoable in order to have our brief moment of fame or because we want to contribute something of worth for society? Take Lady Godiva and the Earl of Mercia, for instance. The Lady objected to the Earl extracting so much money from the people of Coventry. The Earl promised to stop his greedy ways if Godiva would ride naked through the city at mid-day. She accepted the challenge. This was a dare accepted for the public good, a political protest. Everyone in Coventry, so it is said, stayed indoors and away from their windows except for one man, known ever after as Peeping Tom. The virtuous citizens aided Lady Godiva in her pretty protest by not peeking at her. (Had I been there, I would most certainly have been among the virtuous.) That nasty fellow, Peeping Tom, was struck blind. This he deserved and this I believe, but I don't think he was the only one. I expect there was an epidemic of blindness in Coventry that day and that every victim was male. If I visit old Coventry in a dream tonight, I shall not be one of the voyeurs. I would prefer to be the horse which carried such a delightful burden.
I reiterate. For anyone, in particular a very old man, to have ascended to the top of the highest mountain is a personal challenge and a personal triumph. There isn't anything useful to do, however, on the pinnacle of Mt. Everest except to think about climbing back down again. Purpose. Purpose. Purpose. If we what we do is only for personal aggrandizement, for personal wealth, for 15 minutes of tawdry fame, we are misusing our time on earth.
In 2013, the ultimate human challenge is to preserve the community of the living. This means healing a poisoned planet and opposing every political, economic, philosophical and religious doctrine which threatens life in all of its myriad forms. This challenge well met leaves, as an exemplar, a legacy of having cared for all life in all places in the planet we call home.
