Climbing to a Dream

When climbing a ladder it is important to focus on the rung above the one on which you are standing. Looking down or gazing up provides no benefit and can lead to calamity. 

James is a twenty-four year old man who works security at the front desk of a nine story office building. Back in high school James was a very good football player. When he graduated from high school his dream was to play college football. He did not receive any scholarship offers so he decided to go to junior college and play. He had hoped that he would be discovered and then offered a scholarship to a university. The offer of scholarship never materialized so once his athletic eligibility expired James dropped out of college just short of the required credits for graduation. He then went to work as a security guard. 

Everyday James diligently watches as the employees walk passed him on their way to the bank of elevators that will take them to their desks. He smiles and greets each of them every morning and evening as they file passed. Secretly he wishes that one day he could be part of the group who work on the floors above him. He dreams of being one of the guarded instead of the person who guards.

Every once and while James is required to work the night shift. The night shift requires him to walk through the building to make sure everything is secure. One evening, while making the rounds, he noticed a job-posting board. While reading the different job descriptions he discovered that there were numerous entry level positions that would be opening up over the next six months. The qualifications were very basic: Associate Arts Degree, computer skills and two years of applicable work experience. He was not qualified but he was very close. He has some computer experience and he had almost finished his two year degree. As he continued down the hallway he started to wonder what he would need to do to finish his degree.

The next day, after work he went to the college to see how many credits he needed to graduate. He was please to find out that he only needed to complete two elective courses to earn his degree. He enrolled in a computer class and a business writing course and five months later he graduated. A week after that he submitted his resume to the Human Resources Department. Day after day he sat at his security desk hoping to receive an email inviting him to an interview. After an agonizing week of waiting it came.

Sara is a forty-two year old woman who works in the building that James guards. She is a very successful and highly regarded member of the upper management team. Sara graduated from college when she was twenty-two and has concentrated on her career almost exclusively since that day. She has methodically risen up the ranks of several companies in the industry and now holds the position of Senior Vice President of Marketing at her current company. Her position has many responsibilities, one of which is periodically sitting in as the senior member of a panel that conducts employment candidate interviews. 

When James walked into the room to be interviewed Sara immediately recognized him as the security guard from the lobby. She did not acknowledge her recognition of him nor did she extend any extra courtesy. She was determined to remain impartial but there was no changing of the fact that the work ethic and professional demeanor she had encountered when anonymously dealing with him in the past had left her with a very positive view of James. During the interview she questioned James about his lack of applicable work experience and was impressed by his articulate response. At the debriefing of the interview Sara recommended that James be offered a position knowing that the others on the panel would follow her lead. James accepted the position and two weeks later the former security guard greeted the new one on his way to the elevator. James had realized his dream. He was no longer the guard, he is the guarded.

On the evening following the interview with James, Sara drove home to her beautiful three bedroom condominium. She was impressed with what she knew James had done to get his new job. It reminded her of her younger days in the industry. That night when she was removing her clothes she caught sight of herself in the full length mirror of the wall. She saw a body that had been disregarded on her career climb. She knew she was at least thirty pounds heavier than she had been in college. In that moment she decided to begin exercising. She went to the computer and pulled up pictures and testimonials of fitness personalities. Sara began to dream of having a body like those on the screen. She joined a gym the next day and plunged herself into the pursuit of her new body not realizing that her dream would never come to fruition because she had not established a realistic starting goal. Day after day, week after week she adopted the fitness regimes of her favorite fitness models. She tried eating only carbohydrates and lifting light weights with little rest. Then she experimented with heavy weights and long rest periods. Finally she just walked for hours on the treadmill and drank gallons of water. Every attempt Sara made was driven by her dream of a better body; everyone of them failed because of it was not specific to her. After religiously following each of these random bits of non-applicable fitness advice on the internet, she would stand in front of her mirror hoping to see her dream body but it never appeared. Depressed by what she deemed to be her own failure, the visits to the gym slowly fell off until she stopped going at all.

Six months later Sara hurried across the lobby toward an open elevator but as she approached the doors began to close. Just then a hand reached out and held the doors so she could enter. She looked up to thank the person who had held the doors for her and it was James. He smiled at her in silent recognition and without asking pushed the button for the ninth and top floor. Sara nodded and as the elevator proceeded to its first stop, the third floor where James worked, they each had a moment. Sara felt a twinge of personal failure in the presence of James’s dream realized and James let himself wonder what it was like to be Sara and work on the ninth floor. When the elevator came to a stop Sara stood still, waiting for the doors to close and take her to the ninth floor, saddened and perplexed by her inability to make any physical progress. As James got off the elevator he glanced over at the panel with just the ninth floor button illuminated and quietly said to himself, “I wonder what they do on the fourth floor?”