Difficulty Brings True Appreciation
I just spent several days with a group of youth 14 to 18 years old pushing handcarts through a wilderness area, re enacting in a small way the migration of early handcart pioneers from the Midwest to the western United States.
The trails we traversed were rugged and steep, the weather hot and the effort required arduous, especially for me, who spends most of my time behind a desk.
The youth were assigned to ‘families’ of about 6 kids and two adults. The kids put their food, bedding, water, and all that they needed for 3 days into the back of those handcarts and pushed and pulled them over the trail, traveling about 12 miles each day.
The first night was spent with taping blisters on hands and feet, wishing they had thought to be better prepared, especially against the mountain gnats that buzzed and bit incessantly leaving painful and itchy welts. In the evening, they got a history lesson about the settlement of our area before they collapsed into their bedrolls.
Hardly anyone stirred all night. The next morning at sunrise they were up, cooking breakfast, and prepared for another day of pushing and pulling the loaded handcarts. No one really complained even though temperatures were approaching 100 degrees and the hills got steeper and the rocks they had to pull the carts over bigger. Still they persevered.
The final day was mostly downhill, to all our relief. Still it was over 100 degrees and we were going through sand, dragging at your feet and everything else. But they made it! When they arrived at their destination, I’d never seen kids so happy and proud at an accomplishment.
In a meeting to recap the experience, every one of the kids indicated how difficult the experience was, but how much they appreciated it for its difficulty. They had learned a great deal about themselves.
Too often we shy away from hard things, but in persevering through difficult circumstances we often gain the most. The most often heard comment from the kids on the trek was, “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was worth it!”
Things of real worth don’t come easy.
