The Ladder

I watched a worker as he climbed a ladder. At the first few rungs he bounded up, sometimes skipping rungs along the way.  In the middle of the ladder he began to slow down and he paid more attention to each footing and where he placed his hands.  As he got to the top of the ladder he was barely moving forward, hanging on with his eyes watching each move of his feet and hands to be sure that the grip and footing were precise. From where I was watching, it was hard to tell what it was that he was after but it was beyond the top of the ladder and he was going to need to go all the way to the top, ignoring the safety stickers he saw along the way.  As he went for that top step he had to do it all with balance as there wasn't anywhere for his hands to hold onto. He looked so alone there perched on the top step.  It was terrifying to watch and all better judgment of me and those around me told us that something bad was about to happen. And then it did.  He slipped and waving his arms wildly and shouting at the top of his lungs he fell.  Coming down the ladder he grabbed furiously at rungs, but he couldn't get hold and in a fraction of the time it took him to climb the ladder he was off of it, lying on the ground moaning, groaning, with tears in his eyes of humiliation, frustration and anger at himself and what had happened. It was awful to watch the fall. It had been exciting at first to see the ascent but even as a bystander it became anxiety filled as he worked his way through the rungs and it became clear that he wasn't going to stop, even when he was warned to do so.

Even now I wish he hadn't been so ambitious and taken that CEO job.