Sir Ed Hillary, a mountain of a man.

Yesterday, NZ and the world farewelled Sir Edmund Hillary. I was privileged to have known Sir Ed personally. I grew up in Otara, South Auckland and eventually I attended Hillary College. As part of Sir Ed's commitment to the school that bore his name, he often visited the school. It was on one such occasion that I was fortunate to meet this mountain of a man. Since then I have kept in regular contact with Sir Ed, the last time being about six months ago.
What I find so enchanting about the Ed Hillary story is that for someone who had a passion for adventure and for pushing himself to the limits, is that he eventually died of old age. That's an achievement!
I have been reflecting on what Sir Ed's passing means for me. Sir Ed scaled the heights of Mt Everest and in his own words, had "the world beneath his clumsy boots". He "knocked the bastard off!" But he did not stay at the top of the mountain. He came down and that's when his real achievements began.
In scriptural tradition, mountains were symbolic of the place where we meet God and where God speaks. He called Moses up a mountain, as he did Elijah and also as Jesus rendered his great "Sermon on the Mount". But all those people whom God called up the mountains, he also sent them back down. It's down the mountain where the people are and where life continues in its joys and struggles. Sir Ed knew what it meant to climb the mountain, but he knew even more what it meant to go back down!
The Sacraments and prayer are where we meet God; our mountains so to speak. But then God challenges us to go back down the mountains and into the real world and be agents of God's love and truth.
Thank you Ed for being an agent of that love and truth. Your example of simple kindness will remain with us forever.