Climbing to be Human

Living in a metropolitan city, luxury cars scattered on the main road set against the sparkling lights of high-rise buildings. Humans pass by without reprimanding each other, busy staring at the smartphone where the virtual world drowns itself from reality. Everything is preoccupied with its world, this is a portrait of the individualism which has now spread its wings in the big cities of the world.

For some reason, my memory suddenly flashed 3 months ago, when I was looking for a grocery store that could exchange my five thousand rupiahs for a cup of hot coffee and two favourite clove cigarettes. Sipping coffee while smoking cigarettes is a simple joy in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the metropolitan city. Reflecting, staring at the busyness of humans who don't know where they come from and where they are going. Damn, boredom pervades the mind. I have to freshen up my mind. Sharing time with nature, enjoying the silence of the jungle in the middle of the mountain. Must.

That is the background of the trip to Yogyakarta to escape the fatigue of the capital. Together with two friends, a plan was made to make Mount Merbabu an escape destination. Amid boredom and tiredness of mind, mountains are often a place of escape for those who are fed up looking at the sea of ​​metropolitan city people to just refresh their minds.

Becoming Human

"Sharing your time with nature, you will know who you are, the nature of being human," a lyric from the soundtrack of the Gie film, performed by Eross and Okta, seems quite appropriate to represent the outline of this paper. Climbing a mountain is a tiring activity, walking uphill for hours bearing heavy loads, being hit by the cold wind that blows continuously is tiring. On both sides, there are only lush trees, front and back only a path that has been traversed and will be traversed.

The mind wanders, plays pictures of the viciousness of the jungle (slipping and falling, meeting wild animals, until exhausted and unable to walk anymore). Questions started raining down on my head until when did this path end? There is no other way but to keep walking to end the journey. Stopping in the middle of the road is not a solution, because the cold wind will erode every bone and even take the lives of the souls who surrendered.

When the physical begins to be depleted, that's where the mental capacity is tested. In this poor physical condition, the mind will think hard about how to save itself. Self-limitation tested, will we indulge ourselves by creating the limits of inability or will we continue to push our limits? We are ourselves with our limits. How much money and worldly degrees of honour are of no use. Because when we are cold, we are unable to warm ourselves by exchanging our money, at best we can only use money as fuel to make campfires. The good name and degree of honour? Nobody knows you when amid the fierce grip of the jungle.

In a hike, you don't need to calculate how many steps it takes to reach your destination. It only drains energy from overthinking, the important thing is just to keep going and walking until you find your goal. This is a recipe for living life, no matter how far and how difficult the goals are achieved, the most important thing is to keep going and ignore the word surrender that often persuades you to stop. Because when you walk it step by step, then in the end the goal will automatically approach itself with its compassion and beauty. Especially on the mountain, the beauty that came to me was very comparable to the exhaustion that was so hard to deal with.

Every human being will show his true nature when fatigue touches the body. Here we can see what the true nature of our friends is. Facial expressions never lie. Ah, mountains have always been the right place to look for purities that are hard to find in cities today. There is a lot of hypocrisy that can be found in the city because money and good name and degree of honour are fully valid, therefore many people are only good at us only because of our money or good name motives, not because of our real personality. This does not apply in the midst of the wild fierce.

After all, climbing is not a vacation for pleasure. It takes a mature physical and mental condition. Nature is not a place to play games with, let alone exploit the ego with proud portraits that feel like nature is being made. It seems that the purpose of climbing must be right, namely to learn to know yourself and God's creation. Goals that are right alone can be wrong if done in the wrong way, especially if our goals are not right.

For me, mountains have always kept their mysteries. Too tired to climb but always brings longing when the journey is over. Enjoying the sun rising from the highest ground, covered in laughter and hot chocolate from the bone-chilling cold, driving away fatigue in the middle of the thin oxygen of the highlands. Ah, it's always that longing that comes when the trip is over, even though in the middle of the journey the question of when the trip will end doesn't stop falling in my head.

The hike is hard to explain. We endure pain for the joy that comes to discovering ourselves and the universe. For me, climbing is a lesson to be human. We are forced to be friendly, which is hard to find in cities. When we meet other climbers, we greet each other, share jokes, chat material, to logistics. It is indeed a very beautiful world, if, in the middle of urban areas such a culture is still maintained, it seems that the conflicts that occur are a little less muted.

I can't wait to look forward to the next climb. Hopefully, the next climbs can also provide meaningful lessons. As in one of God's verses which are written in the holy book, "For there are indeed signs between heaven and earth for those who think about oneness". Hopefully, we are among those who think so that we can present a lesson from every story that is lived.