A View from the Top - Personal Essay

I started to walk slowly to the top of the hill. I was pacing myself because I don’t want to overtire myself unnecessarily. I was walking and humming softly. The road at the beginning was flat. Then it became rocky and difficult to climb because the rocks were too big and the slope was becoming higher. I was afraid of falling down. In the middle of the road, I wanted to give up because I was getting really tired. I saw that my friends were happily climbing the hill. They never stopped to rest for a while. I decided to pause and take a rest for a moment. I sat on a rock and I saw that there were no plants around me. The few plants that existed were dry. When I felt that I had rested enough, I continued climbing the hill, slowly but surely. Climbing at this juncture was truly a Herculean task for me because I was really tired, but I had convinced myself that I could make it to the top.

Finally, I arrived at the top of the hill, exhausted but feeling surprisingly invigorated. I was awe-struck by the magnificent scenery that had greeted me. There was a lazy breeze all around me, gently rustling my hair and clothes. The sound of the breeze was like a lover’s whisper, a soft and satisfying murmur. Oh, how I relished as the air caressed my face with its silken touch. The breeze had wiped away the beads of perspiration on my forehead and the rivers of sweat running down my back. Strangely, the scent of pine filled the air, but I could see no pine trees nearby. Being there, I could breathe the pure untainted, unpolluted air. This was the sweet air that Mother Nature had promised and had provided before technology ruin everything. The clouds were so close to me that I felt as if I could reach out my hand and almost touch them. They looked as soft as a baby’s bottom and as white as winter’s virgin snow. The day was pleasant enough with soft clouds cascading in the sky. Occasionally, the sun would poke its brilliant face through the throng of gathering clouds. The sun was not too hot and it warmed my body just nicely. The most amazing thing was the view of the city from the hill top. The houses looked like doll houses as their sizes were so small from where I stood. The roads looked like tiny paths that crisscrossed everywhere and nowhere. Standing where I was, I had imagined that the city was really inhabited with Lilliputians and I was their Gulliver.

Certainly, it was a truly heavenly, once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. It was an experience that I would like to partake again and again. When you are at the top of the hill, you have an unexplored and unexplained feeling of happiness and fulfilment bubbling inside you. When you are at the top of the hill, all your worries, all your datelines, seem to have melted away like butter. When you are at the top of the hill, you feel as if you are one with the Creator. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else was more important than this moment in time. The view at the top of the hill was the most wonderful thing that I had ever seen in my whole life. This was the best of Mother Nature in all her glory and splendour. This was heaven here on earth.