“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.”
– Old Chinese Proverb
It was before the unification so it was probably late ’88 or early ’89. Berlin was still divided into the East and West. One of the places one could cross over from East Berlin into the western part of the city was at Friedrichstrasse. The train station there was divided into the east and west halves. The checkpoint to cross over was stuck somewhere between the two.
That day, I got to Friedrichstrasse around noon and made my way across the check point manned by the DDR Grenztruppen into the western half. I descended a staircase that led to the subway. At the foot of the stairs stood a disheveled middle-aged man. He looked like one of the many drunks who hung around the western part of the train station.
A little background here…
The East Germans had several shops on both sides of the train station where they sold knock-off western products, especially booze. Hard liquor and beer cost about 25-50% less than in West Berlin, so any self-respecting drunk made his way to Friedrichstrasse to get the cheap booze.
So, back to the story…
I sat down on a bench to wait for the train, looked around and noticed the disheveled man at the foot of the stairs again. He looked like he was looking up, expecting something. Then all of a sudden he took off towards the stairs. He made it up about a third of the way (there were about 20 steps), lost his balance and came right back down, upright but backwards. That got my attention.
Still no train.
The man came to a stop, caught his breath, composed himself and resumed starring at the stairs again. Then he darted up once more. This time, he made it only about halfway and then it was back down.
I was smiling now. I heard the train in the distance.
The disheveled man had me riveted. Me and everyone else on the platform. I wondered how many times he had been trying. He was staring intently at the stairs again. He looked like a bull ready to charge those crazy runners in Pamplona. He was Ahab, staring at Moby Dick. It was crunch time. I wondered if he would let me walk him up. I thought better of it when I considered that it might injure his pride. Besides, the train was almost in and I needed to catch it.
He charged up the stairs again.
The train was pulling in.
Up and up and up and for a second, he hung at the very top. Time stood still as he tottered. Just as he was about to start his backward descent, a stranger at the top of the stairs gave him a shove in the back. Geschafft! He made it!
I ran into the train just as the doors closed. Another guy who had been on the platform but missed the finale asked me:
“Hat er es geschafft?” (Did he make it?)
I nodded. That is all I could do. I was laughing so hard.
I recently remembered this and it made me smile. It was funny but like a lot of things in life, it taught a lesson too.
When we are beset with problems and issues, the easiest tasks seem like climbing Everest. The disheveled man could have taken the stairs one step at a time but he didn’t. In his altered state of mind, it was all or nothing. The majority of us may not be drunk but I can bet that sometimes we want to go up the stairs not one step at a time but all the way at once or not at all. Unfortunately not all of us get someone to give us a shove in the back when it looks like we are going to fall all the way back. Most of the time, all we find are people like me, standing on the platform laughing.