The steps I’ve taken to get me here. To this point in my life. Some forward, some backward, some in place. Heart pumping, blood flowing, legs moving; from the first steps I took as an infant to the first steps I take every morning in my 25th year of life, each one of those steps has required effort and intent. On average, I travel 33 inches with every step I take (trust me, I just measured). That means it takes me about 1920 steps to cover a mile. The Great Wall of China is approximately 13,171 miles (21,196 km) long. When you do the math, that’s like a lot of steps.
Almost a year ago to this day, I found myself walking a five kilometer section of the Jinshanling range on The Great Wall. Those five kilometers of hand-laid bricks, crumbling stairs and 500 year old archways taught me enough about myself to write about it in my initial Challenge Detroit blog post.
Why? It’s only a 5k, right? Everyone and their…well, even my mother, a lifetime smoker, has recently picked up participating in 5k’s as a hobby; what made these five kilometers so special?
Stairs, so many stairs.
I can’t even begin to express how many stairs I had to ascend and descend to make it from drop-off to pick-up location. At the steepest part of the wall, as I found myself crawling on all fours, I took a second to look down and reflect on my journey. While focusing on my own challenge, I realized that I had completely forgotten about everyone else who had to make that same climb. Men, women, children, adults and elders, all having voluntarily put themselves in that position, they were going through the same struggle-
Three days prior to my visit, Justin Beiber had been carried across a section of The Great Wall by his security guards. Every day since the first brick was laid, local residents had traversed the wall with Justin Beiber-sized loads on their backs. Some for recreation, others out of soldierly duty, but most merely trying to make a living off of one of the only viable economies in the mountainous rural region.
It’s a marvel how the same experience can be so drastically different for other people. It’s also a marvel the role that empathy can play in bridging those perspectives. This blog post marks the end of my first month in this mysterious, foreign land of Detroit. I’m looking forward to the steps I will take this year. I’m looking forward to the conversations and experiences that transform me from an outsider with good intentions into a Detroiter working alongside other residents to improve this city.Thank you for joining me on this journey.
“We don’t do anything for people, we do things with people.”-Riet Schumack, Neighbors Building Brightmore