work

anyone can start something. it's much more challenging to stick with something over a long period of time -- to face the criticism, the self-doubt, the financial constraints, and limitations of time and working space; to persist despite embarrassment and repeated failures. this all somehow enables the work to become bigger than oneself. my current work is not bigger than myself right now, but i feel that it could be someday if i stick with it.
i recently saw a documentary film by werner herzog about two mountain climbers. it documented their preliminary climb en route to two himalayan peaks, which they intended to climb in immediate succession. this apparently had never been done. i realized watching this film that i had become somewhat numb to feats like this, which i attribute to sensationalism in the media and the commercialization of everything in the world. in the case of mountain-climbing, for example, there are now tours of mt. everest. in my lifetime i remember when only a handful of climbers had ever made it to the top. this documentary was shot when such feats like this were much riskier than today. when the climbers finally left for their real adventure and had to leave herzog and his crew behind, the scale of their challenge became immediately apparent to me, and i was struck at how it could be possible that these two minuscule humans could conquer these peaks. but they did. of all the things i've seen in the world, somehow i became aware, in a way i hadn't been before, of the power of human will.