Gatsby, Climbing, and Skiing

-Day 18 of 31-

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." - The Great Gatsby

I just finished this book on Sunday night.  I hadn't read it since probably some point in high school.  I'm sure back then I failed to really comprehend the meaning.  My concern was more likely along the lines of, "What do I have to do to not fail this assignment?" :-)


But it got me thinking.  What was F. Scott Fitzgerald getting at here?  Perhaps it helps to have a few paragraphs prior to this last line:

"And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther....And one fine morning--"

Fitzgerald's contention in these lines is that we are inextricably tied to our past.  That we continually pursue our "American Dream" because we have this notion in our head of how "things should be" that we conceived at some earlier point in our existence.  We may even think that "we are owed" or that "life cheated us" out of something.  Instead of adapting, and seeing the reality of how things really are, we continue to believe that we can somehow capture or recapture past dreams.  Instead of turning our boat downstream and going with the flow of life, we work ever harder against the current trying to attain something that is unattainable (perhaps because it never was attainable in the way we imagine it or because the window of opportunity has simply passed).

Hmmm...might this be ego creeping in?  I sure think so.

We should have goals and dreams, but they have to be tempered with reality and not pursued at all costs, such as what Jay Gatsby did.  He spent his life rearranging his life, trying to recapture something that had already passed him by and was no longer attainable.  He couldn't accept that this thing just wasn't meant to be.  Surely this is ego.  And odd as it may sound, surely this has applications for us in outdoor pursuits such as climbing and skiing.

Perhaps we've always imagined ourselves climbing this route, summiting that peak, or skiing down a particular backcountry slope.  We may have even come hundreds or thousands of miles to pursue this dream that we've had for so long.  But we have to always remember to temper those dreams with the harsh reality of nature.  Gravity is always on.  The weather can turn bitter and unforgiving in a matter of moments.  And an avalanche doesn't care that you ignored the warning signs because you just "had to ski there" that day.  Instead of pressing on against the obvious "current", turn the boat around and go with the flow of what life is handing you.  Remember that it's OK to back down if it doesn't look or feel right, the rock and the summit will still be there for another attempt.  And that slope you want to ski isn't going anywhere; there will be good snow on it another day.  Just make sure you're still alive to climb it or ski it the next time.

It's an interesting analogy for sure.  And I somehow just took the theme of a bit of classic American literature and applied it to climbing and skiing.  I swear I won't let it go to my head :-)