Sir
Edmund Hillary Brings Schools to
His Beloved Himalayas
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.
Living quietly and making
his way in the family beekeeping business in Auckland, New
Zealand, but his brain always abuzz with thoughts about adventure,
young Edmund Hillary could only dream of heroic conquests,
but that was just fine for him, he recalled years later.
A relatively solitary life given over to reading, walking
and reflection was actually the spark that ignited his involvement
in mountain climbing—not
a bad model for today’s youngsters so many of whom feel
noisy peer pressure to make a life defined only by money. Young
Hillary saw achievement through books, while an older Sir Edmund
saw the fruits of fame as service to humanity.
In terms so modest as
to seem unreal, Sir Edmund Hillary celebrates a childhood
of reading and learning to be alone with himself. Admittedly,
he had then few friends. He went to a big city high school
far from his home, which necessitated traveling four hours
a day by train. “I used to get a
book out of the library every day, so I was reading a book
a day for quite a number of years.” Where others cite
influences of teachers or family, Hillary cites books. Most
of them, he says, had an “adventurous slant,” stimulating
romantic fantasies of taking on heroic tasks, saving women
in distress. A school party to a national park 250 miles outside
Auckland, however, was a turning point. “It was the middle
of winter and there was snow everywhere” and huge volcanic
mountains. An inveterate walker, he went mad for skiing and
for hiking hills in ice and snow. And, perhaps because of his
love for reading, Hillary also developed a certain flair for
telling, at times embellishing, tales about these mountaineering
adventures. His parents, he believes, certainly saw in his
narratives a growing enthusiasm that could not be met by beekeeping,
and became supportive of his love of the outdoors and adventure.
But—significant for so many youngsters today who feel
pressured early on to say what they want to be or to declare
majors, young Edmund “was never one of those people who,
at an early age, had picked an objective and worked steadily
towards it.” “I was just an average bloke.” He
makes it sound as if his mountaineering was incidental, the
result of hard work, imagination, and determination to do what
he loved.
The rest, as they say, is history: the phenomenal
achievement that had defeated so many, was his on May 29, 1953:
the conquest of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth,
at the age of 33, with his Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay.
What is just as extraordinary, however, is what Sir Edmund
has done over the years with his achievement. Now 85, and the
inspiration for any number of explorers and writers (including
Jon Krakauer, of Into Thin Air, about
the Everest tragedy of 1996 who said “Quite simply, Edmund
Hillary shaped the course of my life”), Sir Edmund Hillary
has gone on to be one of the most influential—and modest—heroes
of humanitarian endeavors, establishing in 1960 the Himalayan
Trust that devotes itself to improving the lives of the people
of Nepal by way of providing essential services and world recognition
for the Sherpa culture, including restoration of central sacred
sites and building of schools. These efforts have not only
endeared him to the Sherpa people but to Americans who, in
honor of his work have followed his lead, naming him Honorary
President of the American Himalayan Foundation. The work of
these joint nonprofits “to improve the ecology and living
conditions in the Himalayas” has meant more essential
services in the area’s poorest regions—not just
over 30 new schools, but teacher training programs, adult literacy
classes, scholarships, two hospitals (Kunde and Paphlu) and
11 village clinics. In addition, over one 1 million trees have
been planted, bridges built and microhydro plants installed.
“As long as you don’t “believe
all that rubbish about yourself, Sir Edmund has said, “you
won’t come to much harm.” Along the way, he has
acquired a hero—the great Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton—for
reasons that have significant resonance for everyone. For Hillary,
Shackleton was a great leader because he was “prepared
to make a decision and change his mind quickly,” a man
who never mistook ideas for ideology, a man of alternatives,
a man who listened to the suggestions of others. Indeed, this
attitude seems like an Everest of its own.#
