You Are Never Stuck At The Bottom

Ed Jackson, a former British Rugby player, not only has an impressive professional resume, but has climbed some of the world’s highest mountains.  Over the past few years, he has climbed Mount Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales, he’s conquered the Matterhorn, one of the most iconic and challenging mountains in the Alps, and has scaled the most extreme mountains in the world, from Pakistan, Switzerland to Nepal. 

For anyone else, these grueling climbs would be incredible physical achievements and make for some serious bragging rights. 

But, for Ed, they represent something far deeper. 

In 2017, Ed dove into a swimming pool, something he’d done hundreds of times before.  But this time, everything changed. 

Ed misjudged the pool’s depth, thinking it was six feet when it was only three.  He hit the bottom headfirst and found himself face-down in the water, unable to move. He later described the terrifying realization that he could hear everything happening around him, but could not move a single limb.

Ed was paralyzed from the neck down.

His diagnosis was category A1, a complete spinal cord injury.  The doctors told him bluntly: “You might never walk again.” For a man whose life had been defined by running, tackling, and professional sports, the future felt unimaginably bleak.  In a single second, his entire life collapsed.

But Ed refused to let that be the end of his story.

Day by day, Ed pushed through rehab with relentless determination, slowly rebuilding strength that most people take for granted, like learning to stand, learning to balance, and learning how to trust his own body again.

Even a year after the accident, Ed still suffered from limited sensation on one side of his body, and had ongoing challenges with bladder and bowel function.

But he refused to let his injury define the boundaries of his future.

As the first anniversary of the accident approached in April 2018, Ed announced something almost unthinkable: he was going to climb Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales.   People questioned whether his body could even survive the strain.  And yet, with metal rods in his spine and scars across his body, he began to climb.  Slowly, painfully, and sometimes needing to stop after only a few feet.  But with the help of friends, grit, and unbelievable determination, he kept climbing until he finally reached the summit.

Through his charity, Millimeters 2 Mountains, he now dedicates his life to helping others overcome their own personal mountains.

Ed’s journey was made into an inspiring documentary called “The Mountain Within Me.”  In it, he says something unforgettable:  “The size of your mountain doesn’t matter; it’s the first step that counts…Nothing I'm doing now I ever imagined I'd be able to do.  You don’t have to climb a mountain to move forward. You just have to believe that you’re not stuck at the bottom forever.”

And perhaps that is one of the most important lessons as we prepare for Shavuos. 

Every Jew stands at the bottom of some mountain.  For one person, it’s fear.  For another it’s failure, doubt, anger or regret.  Some mountains are physical. Some are emotional.  And others are spiritual. 

The Yetzer Hara’s greatest lie is to convince us that because we are standing at the bottom today, we will stay there forever.  But, the Torah wasn’t given in a valley, it was given on a mountain.  Because, all Judaism asks of us is to keep climb.

Not because the mountain is easy, but because you have to be willing to take that first step.

You do not have to climb Everest to live with courage and you do not have to already be at the top.  You just have to refuse to believe that your story ends at the bottom of the mountain.

Holiness in Judaism is not reserved for people who already made it to the summit.  Holiness belongs to the people still climbing.

And that may be the most important step of all.