The Price of Going Higher: A Tale of Ladders, Effort, and Perspective

By Jeff Becraft

 

I used to own just one ladder. It’s an aluminum extension ladder and it lives in our garage. It doesn’t just hang on a wall… it’s our means of getting up into the attic, which the only way you can do that is through the garage ceiling.

Our problem is that it’s just an extension ladder and we do not own a step ladder. That’s problem number one. Problem number two is that my garage looks like Walmart threw up in it. (Now, that is one of my tasks on my to do list… is to clear the garage out. We’re not even to January 1 yet and I’ve already got some resolutions going on. How’s that for being ahead of the game?) Getting the ladder out for any other use takes some strategizing.

So, for a while, I’ve had my eye on these multi-position, multi-use ladders. (The one I was looking at extends to 22 feet.) The only hindrance was that they were fairly expensive. I kept wondering, “Do I really want to spend that much money on something that I would just use once in a while?”

But then, right before Thanksgiving, I saw one of these multi-position ladders go on sale and it was $90 off. Now that put the ladder into the playing field… and I had my eye on it. Well, since the grandkids came into town (as mentioned in last week’s email), they were the priority, and rightfully so.

But Friday night… the day after Thanksgiving… infamously known as Black Friday… at eight o’clock at night… I go to the store to get the ladder. The store closes at nine. I even apologized to the people because I know they must have been exhausted from working that day.

The first problem I ran into was getting the thing on a cart. Now, I got one of these big industrial sort of lumber carts, and I was just going to slide it down through the slots. The only problem with that was it didn’t fit through the slots.  So now I had to run it caddy corner across the flatbed of this cart and it was sticking out. That did not make for easy maneuvering around the store. I could easily have taken out some unsuspecting and bedraggled customer or employee and they wouldn’t have even seen it coming.

I also had to buy some lumber, so I got that and put that on my cart. I realized I had to come up with a new strategy for the ladder. I was finally able to maneuver it into one of the slots… kind of… sort of… and so it was a little bit more aerodynamic getting to the cash register.

After checking out, I then wheeled it (and the lumber) out to my car. I put it in my trunk. It is sticking out the back and I didn’t bring anything to tie my trunk down. So, anytime I stopped and started… well, let’s just say the trunk was waving at the other cars and was banging down on the ladder. So now I am making all kinds of commotion heading back to the house.

Pulling the ladder out of the trunk, I pull a muscle… or several muscles… or I’m not even sure they’re muscles… they might just be tendons or something. All I know is that pulling this ladder out, which is not lightweight, and hauling it back to my backyard caused some damage. The Walmart-enthused garage has no room for the ladder, so I just have to leave it leaning against the back deck in the backyard. It still has the tags on it and everything.

I start to ponder, “Was this ladder really worth it? Great day… I may have just gotten a hernia just pulling it out of the car.” Well, since I had no place to store it, I just left it in the backyard… tags and everything.

Someone could just come by and steal it… but if they do, they just might get a hernia… which would serve them right if they’re coming into my backyard trying to steal stuff… like my brand new ladder.

Now, if you need to borrow a ladder, you can come over anytime and borrow my new ladder. But I forewarn you, you’re going to have to load it in the car by yourself. I can’t afford a week or two of recovery to help you load it up.

So I have a new ladder… but it comes with a price tag… just moving it is costly and takes effort. But then, if we want to go higher, that usually comes with a price tag.  It doesn’t just happen.

And if we are going to go higher, we had better make sure the ladder is leaning on the right wall.

 

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at  [email protected].