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About setting lofty goals
July 22, 2009
Over the last couple days, a lot has been said about the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. On July 20 in 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took their historic flight and humankind set foot on the moon for the first time.
A few years later, when I was in middle school as a boarding student in Turkey, our teachers set up a black and white television for us to watch the astronauts walk on the moon live. I had the fleeting thought then that I would be an astronaut when I grew up, but dismissed that thought entirely because all astronauts were Americans. I did not know about the Russian cosmonauts back then or about the space race. When children believe that a goal is unattainable, that becomes true, and they grow up never knowing whether it had been within grasp all along.
Now when I hold presentations in elementary school classrooms and bring up this topic, I ask the kids: "who wants to be an astronaut?" Most of the time, no hands go up. If a boy raises his hand up hesitantly, he has good reason. For each one of those kids daring to say they can, there are at least two more who laugh and make fun of them. Such insidious peer pressure undermines the larger than life goals that these kids could have for themselves.
That is why I enjoy talking to kids about the nonprofit Around-n-Over, about how we set out to educate and inspire children, telling them about the challenges in reaching seemingly impossible goals.
Ever since I started the Six Summits Project following Göran's accident in 2003, I returned to the Vertical World Climbing Gym finding comfort in the friendships and the ambiance as if I had never left. Over the years, they formed the Vertical World Climbing Team to offer young climbers the structure to excel in competitions. These young climbers work hard under the supervision of their coach Tyson Schoene, benefiting from a nurturing environment and the positive support structure that the team offers. Nobody laughs when these young climbers talk about qualifying for the world championships.
Through the self confidence that their hard work offers, these climbers regularly place in divisional and national events. Just recently, five of them qualified for the World Championships as part of the US Climbing Team. Their dedication inspires me and they are one of the best in the nation:
* 2009 First Place National Youth Bouldering Champions
* 2008 First Place National Youth Bouldering Championships
* 2007 Second Place National Youth Sport Climbing Championships
* 2006 First Place National Youth Sp ort Climbing Championships
We wish them the best, and we look for ways to support them. You too can support them by passing on the word that the Vertical World Climbing Team is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and contributions to this team will be tax deductible. You can direct donations from your circle of supporters to:
Vertical World Climbing Team Fund
PO Box 99313
Seattle, WA 98139-0313
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2009 Team Vertical World - five of them qualified for the world championships with the US Climbing Team
