Moving Mountains

A story starts to play out in my head, it isn't an original theme I am afraid but something I probably heard in part somewhere before, but all the same I put it in my own words and share it…

There was once a very young man who came to sit at his Grandfather's feet to seek advice. You see his Grandfather was legendary for having moved a mountain with his own hands. The young man knew it took a great many years to accomplish this feat but he wanted to know the secret of the old man so he could move the mountain and become as famous as his Grandfather. His grandfather took him to a very large pile of rocks, stones, and dirt in the front of his home, next to it sat an old cart and a small shovel. The young man looked questioningly at his Grandfather, I want to learn how you moved the mountain, to which the Grandfather said, "You must start with this pile, move it, and then you will know the secret to moving a mountain."

All afternoon the young man pushed and shoved for his hours of work he had only succeeded in disturbing the dirt and pushing a few rocks down the other side of the pile. His Grandfather watched silently as the boy shoved and pushed at the pile with no success, the boy looked to his Grandfather, I will never be strong enough to move a mountain if I cannot even push this pile of dirt this small distance. His Grandfather smiled and asked him what he had done with the cart and shovel. The boy looked at his Grandfather, "It's over there I moved it out of the way." Again his Grandfather spoke patiently to the young man, "I was not a strong man, nor a wealthy one, and I had no great machines or army of men at my disposal. I had a cart and a shovel."

"You moved a mountain with a cart and shovel?" The young man looked at the old man with a mixture of amazement and astonishment. There was no great secret strength other than persistence. His Grandfather smiled, "Not yet." The boy looked from the pile of stones and dirt and picked up where his Grandfather had left off, he helped move a mountain.