The busyness of a calendar (or personal diary) full of specific events can sometimes distract us from the longer personal journeys those events become a part of. I very recently attended a talk by a teacher and sometime serious adventurer entitled, ‘The Longest Climb’. It was based on an expedition (and the ensuing book) that involved journeying – by bike and then foot – from the lowest point on Earth (the Dead Sea) to the highest point on Earth (Everest’s summit). Inevitably, the undertaking was extremely challenging and packed full of emotional and physical highs and lows.  

As I listened to the remarkable tales and anecdotes, two things struck me.  

The first was that the journey could be seen both as a reflection of the future self we want our children to become, and as a metaphor for how they might get there. We want our children to demonstrate many, if not all, of the qualities required to undertake ‘The Longest Climb’: to be adventurous of spirit, resilient, organised, physically well, able to work as a team in even the most difficult of circumstances, problem solvers, courageous and determined. Unsurprisingly, perhaps the best way to get them there is for them to undertake what to them might feel like their own ‘longest climb’. Undertaking their own journey from ‘the bottom-most point’ of an entire lack of experience and ability in a given area, to the peak of success in it: this is a process that will often engage most of those qualities. Progress on an instrument is just one example where it can feel like a very long climb; but when the summit of a top result at a grade level is reached (as for the 12 boys who have just attained Distinction in their most recent grade), then it helps demonstrate a lot of those qualities have been engaged along the way. And this principle can be applied to the multiple threads woven through a Pilgrim’s experience from when they join to when they move on to their senior school.  

The second thing that struck me from the talk was how many times the speaker made mention of the spontaneous generosity and kindness shown by so many different people on the journey; from Jordan, through war-torn Syria, then Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and finally Tibet. Throughout, he encountered those with little, if anything, to their name who simply welcomed these travelling strangers and shared unstintingly in their hospitality and food. Time and again, I’ve heard adventurers speak of this phenomenon. It is always arresting to remember that, while as a macrocosm the world can feel a daunting place of geopolitical conflict, at the microcosm level there is such good in humanity and that often those with least share most. 

It is of course incredibly positive for our boys to understand that there will be metaphorical equivalents to ‘the longest climb’ in life, and also that those times are so much more easily managed if we are unstintingly kind, sharing and generous of spirit towards one another. In the busyness of our final weeks, may this message remain front and centre.  

Tim Butcher
Headmaster