The High Road: 30 Years, 30 Days, 30 Stories. Day 19 out of 30

Mt. Evans rising above Echo Lake, (photo by E.J. Pieker, www.ejphoto.com)

           We’ve all heard the expression, that sometimes we just need to take the High Road, well in the summer of 2003 I took it, literally. The highest paved road in North America climbs Mt. Evans in the Rockies just outside of Denver, Colorado. With the summit reaching 14,240 ft, you can drive from the entrance of the road in Idaho Springs, Colorado all the way to the top.  The drive to the summit climbs through forests, up above the tree-line to an alpine pasture, and then to the rocky mountain peak beyond. As you ascend, the car travels past ancient trees, some dating to times before Christ, mountain goats, and meadows filled with brilliantly bright yellow small flowers. Somewhere near the top, in full view of the peak, there is a small mountain lake made by the melting snow each year. Its silver surface echoes the sky and peak above, its water is always cool and crystalline.

            When you reach the small parking lot just below the peak you still have a little bit of climbing to do reach the summit, but it is well worth it. There, above the surrounding peaks, you can see for miles in every direction and the horizon disappears beyond the foothills in the east and the mountain range to the west. Sitting there one day in the summer of 2003 with a few other novices atop the mountain, it became apparent that sometimes taking the high road, while lots of work and sometimes even dangerous, was definitely the way to go.

One of those Ancient Trees,
(photo by the talented Ej Peiker, www.ejphoto.com) 

            The truth is that in order for the car to make the climb we had to stop a couple of times to let it cool down to stop it from overheating. The car was a fine, normal car, but the amount of work and the change in pressure of the atmosphere meant that we sometimes just needed to stop to let things cool down so that it wouldn't blow up. It was a good thing that we did, too, because at one of the places we stopped we saw trees that had been twisted and turned by the wind over the course of several thousand years. At another place, we sat down by that small mountain lake and ate the lunch that we had brought with us. Stopping to cool off gave us time to witness things that we might not have otherwise, and that was a real blessing.

In front of the No Summer Moutain Range,
Somewhere in The Rockies. 

            It is also a little dangerous to take the high road, and sometimes it can be a real balancing act. On the way up the mountain that day I remember driving the car and looking out the window to my left to see a sheer drop of several thousand feet almost immediately outside my window. Other times being on that road, which is narrow in parts, meant swerving a little to avoid oncoming traffic all the while trying to avoid falling off the mountain. In other words, driving up this peak required a lot of attention to actually staying on the road and sometimes avoiding oncoming traffic just to stay safe.

            In the end, though the high road is rewarding. From the top you can see everything for miles around, and there is a real sense both of accomplishment and gratitude in that. That month that we were in Denver in 2003 it was for a course on the history of the Society, and after a few weeks of studying together and living together all 90 or so novices in the USA were starting to get on each other's nerves a little.  That is normal, human, and understandable, the question became one of which road to take.

            In these sorts of situations in our lives it is all too easy to take the low road, the road of gossip, pettiness, name calling. I know that I have all too often taken that road in my own life. Sure it seems to be safe, controllable, and somewhat easy. Sure, on that road there is the possibility of danger, but the road is wide, and there are nice guard rails, and we don't have to exert much effort to use it so we take it. The truth is really that it can be just as dangerous, just in different ways, and can just as easily lead to a wreck.

A Group of intrepid Jesuit Novices straddle the great
continental divide. 

            The flip side can be taking the high road, the straight and narrow, which on the surface seems much more tricky and dangerous, but which we know from the outset can be much more rewarding. It is hard to do your best to love people sometimes, or even to be charitable with them. Sure there will be times when you might overheat and want to blow up it is then that we just need to stop, calm down, and take sometime to see what is around us, and try to find the beauty in the situations and people we are dealing with.  Sure there might be times when avoiding a head-on collision with someone that we find difficult it tough, but on the high road sometimes a quick swerve to avoid a difficult situation is all that you can do. Yes, the kind of intentionality in the context of our relationships that it takes to drive that road can be exhausting too. In the end, though, if we can keep taking that high road, even in rough circumstances, we come to the peak where everything can come into focus and our journey there makes more sense.

On the road toward the mountains. (You can kind of make
them out in the distance)  

            That day on Mount Evans I think we learned something important, sometimes the high road can be long and arduous, but if you don't try you never get to the place where things can be in the purest perspective. If you don't take that high road, you never reach the peak.