After a long day of riding the rides @ Kennywood Amusement Park, it was time for the park to close. My
wife and I gathered our things and filed along with herds of other people toward the exit gates. When
we arrived at the gate there were large groups of people waiting to get on the escalator which would lift
us all to the upper parking lot where our car was parked. We called the kids and they were already at
the car waiting for us. Gotta love them cell phones. Anyway, as we stood in line patiently waiting, a
couple of young boys came running by us. They jumped on the down escalator and ran up to the top like
nothing. My wife looked at me, winked and said, “Let’s go!” Already tired from the day, waiting in line to
ride the rides and all of the day's walking; I could not wait to get into the car and feel the cool breeze
from the air conditioner. The sun had been long down and still it was about ninety degrees out. I did not
hesitate (or think twice), I jumped out of line and leaped on the down escalator running up. My wife
followed me. Note: we were running up the down escalator in case you missed it. It did not seem to be
moving all that fast until I was on it. I started running up the slow moving steps as if I were on a
treadmill. About half way up I began to get tired and started to slow down. Even though I was still
pressing forward, I was not going anywhere. For every three steps I moved forward one. I felt like I was
running in place. For a second I thought about stopping and going back down to the bottom except by
this time several other people had the same idea and began running up the escalator behind me. My legs
began to burn and so did my smoker lungs. Unable to stop I reached deep down inside of me and
mustered up my last little bit of energy for the day and high stepped it to the top. When I got there, I
was completely winded. "That was way harder than I had imagined it would be." I said to my wife who I
though was still behind me. She had run out of steam and gone back down to wait in line for the up
escalator.
Moral of the story; if you lead, people will follow. In life; if you are not moving forward, you are moving
backwards even if you are just standing still.
wife and I gathered our things and filed along with herds of other people toward the exit gates. When
we arrived at the gate there were large groups of people waiting to get on the escalator which would lift
us all to the upper parking lot where our car was parked. We called the kids and they were already at
the car waiting for us. Gotta love them cell phones. Anyway, as we stood in line patiently waiting, a
couple of young boys came running by us. They jumped on the down escalator and ran up to the top like
nothing. My wife looked at me, winked and said, “Let’s go!” Already tired from the day, waiting in line to
ride the rides and all of the day's walking; I could not wait to get into the car and feel the cool breeze
from the air conditioner. The sun had been long down and still it was about ninety degrees out. I did not
hesitate (or think twice), I jumped out of line and leaped on the down escalator running up. My wife
followed me. Note: we were running up the down escalator in case you missed it. It did not seem to be
moving all that fast until I was on it. I started running up the slow moving steps as if I were on a
treadmill. About half way up I began to get tired and started to slow down. Even though I was still
pressing forward, I was not going anywhere. For every three steps I moved forward one. I felt like I was
running in place. For a second I thought about stopping and going back down to the bottom except by
this time several other people had the same idea and began running up the escalator behind me. My legs
began to burn and so did my smoker lungs. Unable to stop I reached deep down inside of me and
mustered up my last little bit of energy for the day and high stepped it to the top. When I got there, I
was completely winded. "That was way harder than I had imagined it would be." I said to my wife who I
though was still behind me. She had run out of steam and gone back down to wait in line for the up
escalator.
Moral of the story; if you lead, people will follow. In life; if you are not moving forward, you are moving
backwards even if you are just standing still.
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| ESCALATOR August 2007 |
