The Ladder

Have you ever thought of how the ladder can teach us an important lesson in life? The lesson is about humility and patience. When you have to climb a ladder, you always have to start from the lower rung, and climb one step at a time. It’s impossible to climb a ladder starting from the 6th or 10th rung, but you always have to start from the lowest rung, from the floor. So is life – we cannot reach a milestone right away. We cannot achieve success instantly. We cannot be promoted as soon as we start working. You cannot win a trophy or a medal as soon as you start practicing your sport. It takes patience, perseverance, and sheer determination to reach your goal. It takes time and occasional failure. It takes lots of humility to become successful in anything you dream of. To reach the top rung of a ladder and grab that book from the top shelf of a library, or paint the chimney of your house, you have to climb a ladder, step by step, starting from the bottom. For Pope Francis to become a Pope, he had to study in a seminary like all priests. For President Trump to become President, he had to attend nursery school like all of us. For Michael Phelps to win the large haul of gold medals at the Olympic Games, he had to get up daily at 4 AM, and train hard, doing thousands of laps and follow his coaches’ advice. They all climbed the ladder step by step, starting from the floor and stepping on that first rung. May we show humility and patience in everything we do, methodically planning our lives, step by step, literally and figuratively. Only then we can attain everything we dream of, sometimes with sacrifice, after plenty of mishaps and mistakes, and occasional humiliating failure. But never give up.