I remember looking down the famous Old Clock Tower in Prague some years ago and thinking to myself how small and insignificant everyone looked from above. From the tower, I could see the castles and cobbled stone streets we had visited days before. From where I stood, the view was awesome! With one glance, I saw people walking under the heat of the sun, a couple kissing under the Astronomical Clock, a lone man playing his violin in the middle of the square, people laughing while sharing cold bottles of beer, a couple of kids playing tag. Yet, they remained faceless and unknown to me. There were neither details nor fine points by which I could appreciate them. Up on the tower where I was, everyone was as fleeting as the passing of each day.
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The past couple of days have been difficult. “Life happens,” a friend told me. In moments like these, it is easy to sulk and hide away from the rest of the world. The temptation to just go with the flow without giving a damn is enormous. The idea that there is nothing we can do leaves us feeling jaded and helpless. And while we may cry buckets, nothing much changes except maybe the sight of our face.
Yes, life happens. But to live life to the full, it is not enough to know how to ride its highs and lows. More than that, we should also know how to fall.
Falling reminded me of that Old Clock Tower in Prague. Up in that tower, everything looked small and insignificant. As I am not able to see the finer details of the people and objects on the ground, it is easy to believe what I think I see. But falling, as agonizing as it may be, gives us a reality check. We are forced to get our feet on the ground. Compelled to get out of our shell, we begin to see what others are doing. Only then do we realize that while perhaps we thought we were building bird nests, others have already learned how to fly.
As a certain Antonio Porchia once said, “If you do not raise your eyes, you will think that you are the highest point.” And to this may I add, if you do not fall flat on the ground, you may think you’ve already got it made.
