Marie's view from the top

“Climb Table Mountain -- Ford every stream -- Follow every rainbow -- 'Till you find your Cape Town dream!” by Marie

Behold—Table Mountain!  After three months, I finally made it to the top (with the help of the lovely rotating cable car, of course).  I was surprised that it took me this long to make it to the top of the Table when almost everyone else has already been.  Now that I think back on my experience, however, I could not have picked a better time to go.  My time spent atop one of the most beautiful mountains in the world gave me a chance to look down on the city that I have grown to love and reflect on all of the life-changing experiences that I had there.  Perhaps the trip was so special because, in my eyes, it was the physical expression of an internal climb.  Over the past three months, I faced some of the greatest challenges of my life; all stemming from the sheer difference of the environment and the difficult situations that I was forced to deal with emotionally and intellectually.

It was so odd to go halfway around the world and be treated differently simply because I was white (if I ever experienced this back in the U.S., I never noticed).  When I say “treated differently” I mean in both negative and positive ways (although it all ends up negative in the end).  I saw people favor me and discriminate against darker skinned people; this made me feel guilty and angry.  I also experienced sexual harassment and racism against me because I am white; this made me hurt and angry.  In both situations, I felt angry (not a good emotion to be feeling a lot of the time).  In addition to my personal experiences, I went through the wringer while attempting to soak up as much knowledge as I could about: the difficulties of township life (especially for women and children), racism both among and WITHIN races, poverty, lack of healthcare, lack of proper sanitation, South Africa’s position as both the rape capital of the world and the country with the highest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS, the awful losses from which people are still suffering as a result of what happened during apartheid, the fact that for many life has not improved since apartheid ended, the awful situations of refugees, xenophobic violence……….I could go on and On and ON!

So, after all of the above, I found a quiet place on Table Mountain where I sat, looked down at the city, and considered my life.  I will never be at peace with the world (there are simply too many issues and too much suffering for me to sit idly and do nothing); but I am now at peace with myself and the new person who I have become as a result of being forced to climb such a tall and perilous mountain.  The more I think about it, the more I realize that my personal mountain was not only comprised of the emotional pain that I felt when forced to look upon the pain of others; but it also included the doubts and fears that I had about my abilities and talents.  I have never been surer of myself, of my life in relation to others, and of my faith in God than I am at this very moment.  This, I believe, not only puts me on top of the mountain, but on top of the world!