Conversation with a Stairwell

From time to time I can have quite animated encounters with what I think most other people might typically consider inanimate objects. Trees...candles...and, now, I can add stairwell to the list.

One day last week I was in the underground bus tunnel in downtown Seattle. As I reached the base of the stairwell and moved toward the first step I noticed a word engraved between the first steps: "Why." I've used this very stairwell on several other occasions, but had never noticed the engraving before. And, although "Why?" is a perfectly good question all on it's own, I quickly made the assumption that more words were to follow. Sure enough, the words came one at a time between alternating steps: "Are...You...Not...Afraid."

Why am I not afraid? Admittedly, that's a bit of a startling question to be asked as one is emerging from the dark, underground bus tunnel. The interesting juxtaposition of the words with the locale made me question, "Should I be afraid?" What does the stairwell know that I do not? While instinct tells me this is not a place at which I'd like to find myself alone, late at night; still, I couldn't imagine that the words were intended to frighten me as if I had just stepped into a horror flick.

I looked around intently for the answers to my questions. I looked on the walls for some kind of companion piece. When I reached the landing I turned to head up the next flight of stairs--I was sure the answer would be there. I encountered only silence. I looked between the steps, but there were no words.

As I continued my ascent, I also began to question the "voice" of the one who asked the question. Whose idea was it to engrave these precise words in this precise spot? Who wants to know why I am not afraid--and why? What's the origin and history of these words. What kind of response are they intended to evoke?

I cleared another landing and a shade of disappointment set in my heart as I again saw only empty stairs and bare walls. Nothing. I was certain when I first encountered the words at the base of the stairwell that they were a lead-in question to something more profound. Does the conversation really end here? Seriously?

The question hung in the air suspended by a great dramatic pause.

Why. Are. You. Not. Afraid?

Finally, as I rounded the corner to face the last flight of stairs, it was with an air of relief that my eyes zeroed in on words engraved, once-again, between alternating stairs:

Look. At. The. Reason. Why.

I found it symbolic that the "answer" came as I reached the point in the stairwell where the daylight from street-level was streaming in, shedding light on the darkness. Though, rather than a question and answer session, I think it would be more fitting to describe my conversation with the stairwell as a call and response kind of dialogue.

I still don't know what the intention of the conversation was supposed to be--or even whether the creator, indeed, had a specific kind of intended response in mind when setting up the potential conversation. I wondered how many 100s of people walk through this very stairwell every day and never notice a single word. I do, at times, have a tendency to notice things that the average person may not. On some days, that makes me observant; on other days, perhaps a little weird (hopefully a harmless, charming kind of weird...).

As I wrapped up my conversation with the stairwell, I made a point of offering my thanks and appreciation for the new revelations. I think, as human beings, we will always have to wrestle with "fear" in at least one of its many manifestations: fear, anxiety, insecurity, etc. There are small fears and big fears. Subtle fears and screaming-in-your-face kinds of fears. Through my conversation with the stairwell, I learned a new key trick for maneuvering through or past one's fears: examine the opposite thing. Where in your life are you safe from fear? Where are you secure, courageous, or confident? After you've named those places (Why are you not afraid?), examine what it is that makes all the difference (Look at the reason why.). When you are able to pinpoint the "why" then perhaps you can find a way to multiply that why into other areas of your life as needed. It may still be a process that takes time, but at least it may be a "step" in the right direction.