One More Step

“One more step. One, more, step.  One. More. Step.”

The hot Bahama sun beat mercilessly down on my tanned face, as I wearily bent down to pick up a cinder-block in each hand and start back over the same roof I’d been walking since daybreak that morning.  Today was Tuesday, and I knew that I still had three days left ahead of me, in which my team would successfully lay over a thousand cinder-blocks to help build a school for impoverished children in one of the poorer areas of Nassau Island.  Only aware at the time of the large, monotonous task in front of me, I wearily carried the cinder-blocks another twenty feet, put them down, and went back for more.     

“One more step, One more step, One more step,” I murmured under my breath, as my dusty shoes tramped along the flat concrete roof.

As I picked up two more cinder-blocks, I glanced over at the children in the playground off to my right.  Their clean, gleaming faces contrasted with my dirty, sweat-stained one.  To them, life was good, and utterly carefree.  As I watched them, I became aware of the huge buildings of Atlantis Paradise Island in the distance, and noticed a cruise ship coming in.  The difference between their lifestyles and the ones of my fellow countryman became clear.   

Squaring my shoulders, I concentrated on lifting the twenty pound blocks with my legs, and chipped a corner of one as my hand slipped.  I gritted my teeth and focused my eyes on the other side of the building, thirty feet away. As I focused my eyes, the importance of my task became clear in my mind.  It was as if I'd surfaced the muggy Atlantic waters that we'd flown over and was now looking through the crystal waters of Cabbage beach.  

The bricks that I carried in my worn hands were the students' future, and the mortar that my team was laying would bind their lives together for decades.  No longer tired, and with renewed energy, I feverishly transferred cinder-blocks from one side of the roof to another, as if the children's futures depended on me. 

“OneMoreStep, OneMoreStep, OneMoreStep!”

Looking back on that blistering day, I wonder if someone looked at me as a child, knowing that their work in building a school would result in a better future for me.    I think about my own education, and wonder about the buildings I’ll study in.

During college, I'll remember to keep going, even when things are rough.  When I stroll down the halls, I’ll note how the mortar was laid, and see if any blocks have dents in the corners. If they do, I’ll know that someone had stopped to reflect and didn't give up.  After all, the good life would only have been possible for me if someone had taken one more step.