It was the sun warming the trunk of a tree that I am sure drew the young porcupine to test its strength and start to climb.
It strained and tugged but met branches that blocked the way. Gripping and shaking, it began a retreat.
Almost to the ground another branch on the path brought the journey to a halt, or so it seemed.
Paused there, sitting upright, it rested for a few moments as it seemed to contemplate its predicament, and then began climbing up again, this time even stronger and faster, and going farther than before.
I thought of recent conversations with colleagues about the “tipping point” or “turning point” where, when a decision is made, it’s over and there’s no turning back. We’ve been trying to grasp what exactly that is; it seems to be a decision, but perhaps it is more than that.
Could this young tree climber have known the bottom branch would “raise the bar” and that after crossing it there was no turning back, but it went ahead anyway?
Is that what we do when we come to a “pivotal point”? Do we do something that pretty much makes it impossible to go back, no matter what? Do we burn bridges to force ourselves to find a way? Necessity, they say, is the Mother of invention.
With each attempt forward and each retreat backwards, the critter got stronger and went further; and success was imminent. “Spike,” as I nicknamed him or her, had a lot of spunk, and seemed to know that it was a question of when, not if. Failure is not falling down, unless you stay there.
Even though we do not know what lies ahead, still, we can resolve to always move forward. That “raising of the bar” is exactly what I did when pain and suffering was transcended by love and joy. I decided no more pain and no more blame, and there was no going back. And my world and the world of others was transformed. You never know how far a change will go.
On that walk today I was gifted with so much beauty both on the outside and in-sights, that there was another turning point; I decided to begin sharing the gifts using images. Photography has long been a passion which seems to have resurrected itself, however now I am looking from different perspectives.
From one perspective, coming to the ground again one might say the porcupine failed, however from another perspective, one can say that “Spike” succeeded wildly in strengthening the body.