As I worked my way home during the rush hour commute and made my way over to the stairs and escalator at the train station, I realized I was faced with two options:
1. I can take the escalator.
2. I can take the stairs.
Doesn't really seem like a huge life decision, now does it?
As I faded back into the hustling, swarming crowd of people, I noticed how most opted for choice one, the escalator, even though this meant waiting in line to make their way up while the stairs were wide open and readily accessible.
It was in this moment when it finally dawned on me, when the reality of the situation finally smacked me right across the face.
We take so much for granted in this world, so much in fact, that we don't even realize whatever we are doing is something of which we should be greatly appreciative.
You're probably reading this wondering, where in the hell is she trying to go with this? It's an escalator, they're stairs, who cares.
Well, we should care.
Think of it this way.
Imagine you are paralyzed from the waist down. You can't dance, run, or skip, let alone walk. Not once in your life have you ever been able to do these things, or maybe you have, but you lost your ability along the way. Regardless, you can't.
You are forced to take an elevator, escalator or a ramp to get from point A to B, wherever you may be going. You long to be able to take the stairs, feeling your legs move freely underneath you as your feet hit the ground with each step, working your way up to your destination all on your own.
As you look around you, you notice other people are using the elevator and escalator along with you, perfectly capable of walking up the stairs. You marvel as to why people would ever choose to take the escalator when they could be using the gift of their own two functioning legs to exert their energy up the stairs. You wish they would see that you would trade places with them in an instant, just to have that feeling.
Get it now?
Of course, there are people with disabilities and illnesses, invisible to us, that must use these forms of "transportation," if you will, and this should not go unaccounted for. However, surely not everyone in the rush hour commute had an invisible disability that enables them to rely on the escalator.
The stairs vs. escalator perspective is aimed towards making you think about the little things you take for granted every single day, the things that someone else, somewhere in the world, longs to be able to do or have.
Please, next time you go to take the "easy way out," think about all of those who would die to be able to do everything that you do.
It's all about perspective.
