One day while throwing Frisbees, the group spontaneously5 decided to climb the mountain near our campus. When we reached the summit, it felt like we were at summer camp. We laughed, danced and told dirty jokes. It was intoxicatingly fun. While playing like little children in the cool mountain air, we unanimously decided to do it again the following week. Our motto was “Bring a Friend.”
So the next week while playing Frisbee, we would throw it to someone we didn’t know, run over and invite them to climb the mountain with us. We would say, “Climbing the mountain is better than sex. We guarantee a climax every time.”
We started out with a small group of hikers. But as the word spread, the number of participants increased. One day on campus, I met a woman in a wheelchair and we started talking. Her name was Grace. I asked her if she had ever been to the top of the mountain. She said she hadn’t. I told her that my buddies and I would carry her if she were up for it. Grace accepted the offer. The next time we went up the mountain, we all took turns grabbing aer of her chair as we carried her 1.7 miles to the top.
This was probably one of the most magical and deeply meaningful things I did in college. By the end, we had over seventy-five people climbing the mountain on Thursdays, including Grace. All of us who participated felt like we were part of something much bigger than we were. We were building amunity and it felt great.