Hey Guys! It was a typical muggy overcast Sunday afternoon when Christina and I took a trek together. Its a special time to talk and reconnect. This time we chose Mount Faber wilderness trail here in Singapore. We had no idea that we were about to witness something that would be talked about days later among ourselves and others, described with words such as “remarkable” “beautiful” “love” “inspiring” to name just a few.

In my last blog entitled “Its Up to Me” I described at nauseum the conditions seemingly always the same as we make this trek. miserably hot, sticky, no air, you get the picture! Our trip to the top 105 metres, (344 ft) was obtained in about 30 minutes although my dry fit shirt was now a misnomer. I hear it is much better to do these hikes early morning rather than the 2-4 PM timeframe that we chose due to the heat, but hey it is what it is. We made our way to the Henderson Waves which is a really awesome swooping wooden bridge where a ton of selfies are consumed by pretty much everyone as the views are stunning. We refrained probably due to the fact we were kind of a sweaty mess and just focused on breathing as air was in short supply.

As we headed back down the wilderness trail enjoying the jungle sights/smells/views on our descent was when the “soul” of this story was about to be unfolded. We were maybe 10 minutes into our descent when we were met by an entourage of smiling laughing teenagers maybe 8-10 in number carefully making their way up to the summit, being led by what we can only describe as “an awesome sight” A physically handicapped / differently enabled teen was riding piggyback on a friend up the ascent. With his eyes glistening and a smile on his face as big as his head. His effervescent aura of happiness and thankfulness was bubbling over like a shaken uncorked bottle of champagne. As if that wasnt exhilarating enough a few meters behind were the rest of his supporting friends cheerfully but obviously struggling to carry his cumbersome bulky wheelchair in tow.  

There were no frowns no groans no murmuring no bitching, no complaining no “why are we doing this again looks” no “I’m exhausted” or “this sucks comments” no negative energy on display at all as they were joking, laughing, smiling from ear to ear as they were energetically working their way up to the summit. They were having a blast. After they had passed us we took few minutes to try to process what we had just witnessed. We looked at each other, no words were uttered as the lump in our throats would have to be extricated first, I am not ashamed to admit that we both had tears to wipe away as it was a powerful scene. We both were stunned but thrilled by the spirit of “Good” I am literally getting emotional now just writing about it. To see the unity, the Fun, the thankfulness, the companionship, the Spirit of selflessness and true compassion was awe-inspiring.

It will be a memory/feeling that we will never forget. We were so blessed by what we saw. You never know when things like this are going to happen. The truth is its happening around us everywhere we just have to look for it! We are trying to be more conscious, to live in the now and to be more observant of things going on around us. We have all wasted too much time running the same program of thinking about the past or being anxious about the future. Today we installed a new program we were living in the moment awake and were rewarded.

The trek was nearly complete when we came upon one of my wifes co-workers sitting down taking a breather. First of all we were surprised to see him here and secondly we were encouraged by his excited comment of “did you guys see that group of kids trekking up the Mount carrying their friend? It was a confirmation that we truly witnessed something quite extraordinary and didn’t just hallucinate about it. Our faith in humanity just got an espresso shot today! We get back in life what we focus on. If we dwell on negativity/fear/despair we get more of it. If we focus on finding Good you will find it.       Today it just came easy.

Cheers!

Gary