I know of a man who is always on the move, in stairways, going up or down. They are all kinds of stairways, public and private, outdoors and indoors, they range from steep to easy to climb and while some consist only of a few short steps, others allow long hikes to the loftiest parts of town. Furthermore, he has already moved in those stairways multiple times, and by now can rarely find a new one – even when he does, his interest isn’t always piqued; in fact he seems to prefer a few he already used extensively, and this has been going on since he was very young.
It is true that others would find all this quite pointless, and also strange, had they known about it. As things stand very few people are aware of his preoccupation with stairways, since obviously you can’t just assume anything by watching some passer-by: aren’t you yourself, at the moment, similarly predisposed to watch your steps and cautiously taking into account every feature of the passageway? That said, if his obsession somehow became public knowledge, it’d make carrying on going up and down the public or private stairways more difficult, so he’d never admit anything about it.
Besides, he sees nothing wrong in his attitude. It may seem dull but there were even times he actually felt a spark of joy; once, upon nearing the top of a particularly rugged stairway and being unexpectedly greeted by the full moon above the desolate lofty outskirt – up to then he had to focus on the dirty and treacherous stairs – he couldn’t help but smile! Yet mostly he’s about as tired as you’d expect someone to be after climbing so many steps, and his expression, more often than not, is a heavy frown.
Still, you wouldn’t get him to see an error in his ways, even if you alluded to the pointlessness of continuously moving in stairways – this is because he’s not at all of the opinion that a breakthrough of sorts is impossible for him. He imagines that somewhere, past the final rung of a possibly remarkably steep – or perhaps, if deception is involved, conspicuously not steep – stairway, he’d immediately arrive at the place he longed to be all his life, where he could feel free, and there would not be able to resist any offer by the merry people of the location, the very next moment he’d be taken to some house, find himself behind a closed door, settle on a perfectly flat floor, lie on a bed and speak, laugh, smile, get together and be in peace.
Perhaps everyone is looking for such a room. Perhaps this is the type of room which exists – in some variation or other – for everyone. This still might not allow for it to be found specifically at the end of a stairway.
But it’s not certain – and because it’s not certain, he carries on.