On Standing On Someone’s Shoulders
April 14, 2026
Whatever I am today, in some measure, rests on someone else’s sacrifice, trust, teaching, patience, correction, or generosity.
My parents. A teacher. A boss. A friend. A colleague.
Nobody gets anywhere entirely on their own. Someone gives you a break. Someone backs you when you are unsure. Someone corrects you. Someone believes in you a little before you believe in yourself.
That is how life works. We rise because, at some point, we stood on someone else’s shoulders.
But that truth also places a demand on us.
If others helped lift us, then our life cannot be only about how far we can go. It must also be about whether we become the kind of person on whose shoulders someone else can stand.
That, to me, is the real exchange in life.
To receive is human. To help another person rise is a life well lived.
