Over the top
In approaching the topic of over-the-top, no story seems more tragically aligned with one use of the phrase than the punishment of Sisyphus. As you may recall, this devious and despicable first king of Corinth deceived the gods twice in his quest to stay living among the mortals and out of the underworld where he was to be punished for his misdeeds. For this, Sisyphus was given the eternal punishment of continually pushing a boulder up the steep side of a mountain only to have the boulder roll back down to the bottom as it neared the top. Unfortunately, his story is memorable because it is far too relatable.
But not always.
I had started my Portland to San Francisco flight with my traditional nose in a book posture. It wasn’t long, though, until I was actively eavesdropping on the conversation taking place in the two seats next to me. It was too perfect of a story and cynical me kept waiting for the part where the stone rolled back down the mountain on our middle seat passenger. She was on her way to Orange County to proctor some ACT testing. As the aisle seat passenger continued to pry answers from her, a story of incredible inspiration unfolded.
She had been born on the tribal lands of a small Eastern Washington Native American nation. While there was always money for food and shelter, there was little hope for anything more than existence … nothing beyond the pushing boulders uphill again and again. No one envisioned anything more … other than her, that is.
When she told her parents of her desire to go to college, they not only scoffed at the improbability of such an idea but also accused her of betraying her heritage. “What was wrong with what she had?” Her father and the other tribal leaders, at first, even said, “no” to her request. While many had left the reservation for jobs, no one in the tribe had ever gone to, let alone graduated from, college. “What made her think she could do that?”
But, she explained as the aisle seatmate continued to pull the story out of her, that pushback provided even more resolve. Even though resources on the reservation were thin, she poured her heart into learning. From this work, she got accepted into college but had to complete remedial courses to catch up to nearly everyone around her who had benefited from schooling focused on college preparation.These turned out to just be beneficial speed bumps on her way to a degree in education.
But the boulder wasn’t quite over the top of the hill yet.
What she didn’t comprehend was how her determination had redefined “possible” for many youth in her nation. Shortly after her, another nation member went to college, then another, and another until soon going to college was no longer something that seemed out of reach. Now the boulder was over the hill. We asked her what she had done with her education degree and she shared with us that soon after she started teaching she knew she had no option but to return to her tribal land to encourage and inspire kids there. She had been there for several years. But, she noted, it wasn’t an all-rosy story, “It's not easy to change mindsets that are generations old. I’ve experienced far more failures with my students than successes,” she noted.
Many have suggested that the story of Sisyphus is really that of the futility of human existence, that of monotony of almost pushing the boulder over the top but never actually doing so. Joy had to be found within the experience no matter how ultimately futile it was.
But my seatmate’s journey wasn’t what inspired me. It was that in pushing the boulder over the top, she had paved the way for so many more to break cycles of futility and envision new possibilities. Also, I didn’t want to just hear the story, I wanted to live it. I wanted to push a boulder over the mountaintop.
George Carlin is attributed to saying “Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist.” No doubt there’s probably only so many times one can have a boulder they’ve pushed up a mountain roll back over them without feeling a wee bit cynical. But I’ve also heard the quote expressed as “I’d rather be a disappointed idealist than a content realist” and that’s where I choose to live. For over the top stories DO happen and when you know that you really just can’t do anything else besides walking down the hill and starting to push upward again.
Surely someday a boulder will cross over the top. Maybe a Frosty morning.