We Are All Tunnel Builders

A man stands at the end of a dark tunnel, reaching out his hand to help another person escape to freedom. As he pulls them to safety, memories flood back - his father being taken by the Stasi, all the times he smuggled goods to West Berlin, his own harrowing escape from East Berlin, and the months of backbreaking work digging this very tunnel in secret. Each challenge had shaped who he was, each obstacle overcome had led to this moment.

This was Joachim Rudolph’s realization, depicted in Helena Merriman's book ‘Tunnel 29.’ In this moment, Joachim realized that his entire life had been about solving one problem after another. That life is a series of problems and one has to find solutions.

And that's what life is, isn't it? Struggle after struggle, each one demanding our resilience. Situations that demand creative thinking from us, pushing us beyond our comfort zones. Challenges that are thrown at us unexpectedly, inadvertently, for us to solve and move on. Like Joachim, we find strength we never knew we possessed.