Eleven Steps · Eleven Steps From the Edge · Pulse Beat
It was the last thing Tashi would teach them, and the hardest. On a Saturday in the spring, he took the first class, the twenty, to a ledge above the village, a place where the path narrows and the…
It was the last thing Tashi would teach them, and the hardest.
On a Saturday in the spring, he took the first class, the twenty, to a ledge above the village, a place where the path narrows and the drop is a thousand feet. "This is a lesson," he said, "that is not written in the book." They stood in a line, nervous, in their new boots.
"Eleven steps," said Tashi, pointing to the edge. "Eleven steps from here to there. I want each of you to walk to within one pace of the edge, and stop, and stay there for one minute. Then tell me what you are thinking."
They went, one at a time, with set faces. Pasang was last. She stood at the lip of the world for a full minute, her braid blowing, and then came back, quite pale.
"I was thinking about what is behind me," she said.
Tashi nodded slowly. "That," he said, "is what it is for. The edge is not the point. You walk to it so that you know exactly how far away you want to be." He looked at the twenty young faces. "Never be afraid of the edge. Be afraid of forgetting that there is one."