Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Sir Eddy

That is what the Prime Minister of New Zealand called Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest....way back in the '50's.

Sir Eddy is dead at 88.

Sounds like he led a very good life, helped a lot of poor folks, and was just a good man.

I'll bet he was an awesome fellow to have known.

The world needs a lot more people like him, even if they aren't called "Sir".

I read a bit about their experience (he and a Sherpa guide, Mr. Norgay) in reaching the summit of Mt. Everest, that day in 1953:

"The whole world around us lay spread out like a giant relief map,” he told one interviewer. “I am a lucky man. I have had a dream and it has come true, and that is not a thing that happens often to men.”

There was a modest celebration. “We shook hands and then, casting Anglo-Saxon formalities aside, we thumped each other on the back until forced to stop from lack of breath,” Sir Edmund remembered. They took photographs of one another holding flags, and of the surrounding ridges and the wide views.

They left a crucifix for Colonel Hunt, the expedition leader, and Mr. Norgay, a devout Buddhist, buried some biscuits and chocolate as an offering to the gods of Everest. Then they ate a mint cake, strapped on their oxygen tanks and began the climb down."

We all have dreams, I suppose. Dreams of doing this or that or of becoming this or that.

I don't have any great dreams for my life.........perhaps I should eat some dream cake and see what happens tonight........

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love hearing stories like Sir Ed, it reminds me that things truly are possible and you can really just me no one special and yet can do a great many things with the tools we've each been given. God humble me and show me YOUR way. Shannon