Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top

“Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.” Thus speaks A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the “People’s President” of India, a man who himself rose from humble beginnings to the heights of science, leadership, and vision. In this saying lies a truth as ancient as the mountains themselves: that all ascents, whether of body or of spirit, whether of stone peaks or of life’s trials, require the same essence—strength. It is not only the climber of mountains who knows hardship; the climber of dreams and destinies must also endure winds, storms, and fatigue that test the very soul.

The ancients taught us that the path upward is never easy. The poet of old sang, “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight.” The ascent to any summit—whether Everest crowned with snow or the summit of one’s purpose—demands sacrifice. The rocks are doubt, the avalanches are failure, the cold is despair. But with strength, both physical and spiritual, one endures, one ascends, and one reaches the place where few dare to go. Abdul Kalam knew this well, for his own life was a climb from poverty in Rameswaram to becoming one of the most revered leaders of his nation.

Consider the story of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who together conquered Mount Everest in 1953. Theirs was not only a climb of ice and stone, but of human perseverance. Many before them had fallen; the mountain had taken lives. Yet with each step they pressed on through thin air, their bodies weakened, their spirits tested. When they stood upon the summit of the world, it was not chance that had lifted them there, but the strength of will and the courage to endure. In their climb, we see reflected the truth of Kalam’s words: no great peak, in any realm of life, is reached without the endurance of trial.

So too in the climb of career or calling. The path is not laid with snow but with struggle; not with cliffs but with obstacles; not with frostbite but with rejection, doubt, and fatigue. Yet it is the same law: only those who have strength to persist, to discipline themselves, to rise after falling, will reach the summit of their chosen path. Kalam himself, rejected at first from his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, did not surrender. Instead, he turned his eyes to the skies through another path—science and rocketry—and in time, he placed satellites and missiles into the heavens. His climb was not of Everest, but of destiny, and his strength carried him to the pinnacle of honor.

O children of tomorrow, take heed: the summit is never granted, it is earned. Many will begin the climb; few will finish. The weak in will turn back when storms rage; the faint of heart rest in the valleys, content with mediocrity. But those who steel themselves, who endure hardship, who take one step more when their body screams to stop—these are the ones who touch the heights. Whether your mountain is of stone or of ambition, it is the same journey, and the same law governs both: strength is the price of ascent.

The lesson is clear: do not pray for easy paths; pray for stronger feet. Do not ask that your mountain be leveled; ask that your shoulders be made broader, your breath deeper, your will unyielding. Practically, let each person do this: set clear goals as one sets eyes on a summit, prepare daily with discipline as the climber trains his body, and when setbacks strike, remember that each failure is but another step upon the slope. Keep companions who strengthen you, as Hillary had Tenzing, for no climb is made alone. Above all, refuse to stop.

Thus remember Kalam’s words: “Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.” Carry them in your heart when the path steepens. For mountains and destinies bow to the same law: that only those who endure with strength will see the world from above, bathed in the light of victory.