I thought I knew what mountains looked like. Until I saw this.
Back home, everyone knows me as Alex the Mountain Guy. If anyone ever needs help identifying a large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level, they call on me because they know I can't get enough of mountains. Mountains are big, beautiful, and most importantly, upright. That's what I love most about mountains -- you always know a mountain by the fact that it is pointing directly at the sky.
So imagine my shock and confusion when I saw this:
At first, I was skeptical. I assumed this was a picture of a snow-covered garbage bag. When I first saw this picture, all I could think was, "why did someone take a picture of a snow-covered garbage bag? I don't want to look at a snow-covered garbage bag! Bring on the mountains, baby!" But then my friends said, "Alex, this isn't a snow-covered garbage bag. It's a mountain."
Of course, I thought they were just joshing with me. They've tried to pull some fast ones on Alex the Mountain Guy before, but I've always come out on top.
So I decided to play along. I turned my head to the side... and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I became angry and inconsolable. I said some things I shouldn't have said. I did some things I shouldn't have done. A mountain that wasn't upright? I couldn't understand how such a thing was possible. Was everything I had lived for a sham?
Until I saw this picture, I never would have considered the idea that I -- Alex the Mountain Guy -- would end up looking at a picture of a mountain on its side. I found the idea preposterous and revolting. And yet here I was, looking at a picture of a mountain on its side.
But after the rage and anger subsided, I had a startling moment of clarity: I was too BLINDED by my ARROGANT CONCEPTION of what a mountain HAD to LOOK LIKE to think about it from someone else's point of view. Maybe this is what a mountain looks like to someone with a right angle neck. Maybe this is what a mountain looks like to someone lying on his side. Or maybe this is what a mountain looks like to someone who likes taking pictures of mountains and turning them 90º. It's 2015, and if someone wants to look at a picture of a mountain on its side, then they should be able to do so.
And in that moment, I became a stronger person.
For someone who's as mountain crazy as I am, it'll always be hard to look at a picture of a mountain on its side -- but instead of looking at a picture of a mountain turned on its side and thinking "what the h is this," I'll now look at a picture of a mountain turned on its side and think:
"Yes. This is a mountain turned on its side."
