See the Machine
Step
Over
Around
Onward
A trail through the woods. A few rocks. A log or two.
For most of us, this is a Saturday. Boots on, water bottle, no second thought. You step over the log. You walk around the rocks. The woods open up and you go.
Scroll
Loose rock
Fallen log
Off-camber
Root step
Narrow line
The Wall
Same trail. Different day. Different body.
The rocks don't move. The log doesn't move. But suddenly the trail does — it stops, right here. The step is too high. The footing is too loose. What used to be a walk becomes a wall. And the woods on the other side might as well be in another country.
The Wall isn't built from stone.
It's built from things that quietly happen to people we love.
Parkinson's.Cerebral palsy.A stroke.Spina bifida.MS.A childhood illness.Arthritis.Muscular dystrophy.An amputation.Juvenile arthritis.A spinal injury.A growth plate injury.Carrying extra weight.A bad fall.Getting older.COPD.A knee that never came back.Vertigo.
One by one, the woods close.
TerraInHopper
Same rocks. Same roots. Same steep. Now there's a machine that doesn't care.