She was feeling very sad and depressed. Nothing or no
one could make her happy. She had been very unhappy
and depressed for a long time. "What is the use of going on?"
she said. Nothing anyone said seemed to make a difference.

Her best friend went to visit Sarah and told her the
story of the Mountain of the Golden Footprints. It is
a special place where as the sun sets you can look out
over the city and see sparkling golden footprints on
the places and people where you have made a
difference."But I haven't made any difference in anyone's
life", she said. "There won't be any golden footprints
for me to see. So why should I bother to go here?"

"But", said her friend, "If you don't see any golden
footprints, there is a special village on the other
side of the mountain. That is a place for all those
people who haven't made a difference. It is comfortable
and very pretty and there you can be happy. So you see,
you have other options besides not going on with your
life. If you went to the village on the other side of
the mountain, I would miss you, but it would be better
than your not being alive. You have nothing to lose."

So Sarah decided to give it a try. After all, she
only wanted to do something. She could not go on the
way she was. Besides, although she was sure she would
not see any golden footprints, she had a little glimmer
of hope that going there would make a difference in her
life. The village on the other side of the mountain
also sounded like it could be a place where she could
be happy.

She walked up the path to the top of the Mountain of
the Golden Footprints. It was a long walk and sometimes
very difficult, but she had made the decision to go to
the top and continued on, although sometimes she just
wanted to stop climbing and curl up and cease to exist.

She reached to top and came to the lookout point. She
was greeted by a woman called Faith who watched over
the Mountain of the Golden Footprints.

Sarah sat on a rock at the top of the mountain and looked
out over her village far below. Although the sun was not
setting yet, she felt inside as though she were looking
out over her life. She could see her house and the house
of her friend, the house of her parents, her school, and
many places from her childhood. She remembered many things
as she looked out over these places, some sad and some
happy. And as she was thinking about her life, the sun
began to set. She did not really pay any attention since
she did not expect to see any golden footprints. But soon
a golden twinkling light began to appear in the park in
the middle of the village. She did not still believe it
could possibly be a Golden Footprint. "Look," Faith said
excitedly, "There is you first Golden Footprint!"

"But how could that be?" asked Sarah. "I don't ever
remember anything I did in the park that could have possibly
made a difference."

"That is my department," answered Faith. "I have watched
people make Golden Footprints from this mountain top for
many years. I remember all the Golden Footprints happenings.

"One day a long time ago, when you were a little child, you
went laughing through the park. There was a man sitting there
who had just left his wife and child over a silly argument.
He heard your laughter and missed his child so much that he
returned to this family and lived with them happily ever after."

"Well, that was kind of accidental. I certainly didn't
know I had done that," said Sarah. As she finished speaking,
another golden sparkling footprint appeared on the house of
her friend. "Well, you have loved your friend very much.
Remember when she was very sick? You went to see her and
brought her flowers and stayed with her and talked many
hours and you held her hand. If you had not done that,
she would not have survived."

"But how could that be?" asked Sarah. "I'm not a doctor.
I do not give medicine. How could I have saved her life?"

"The doctor gave her good medicine, but you gave her hope.
You gave her strength and courage, so that her body could
make the medicine work."

And as she finished speaking, the valley below was aglow
with Golden Footprints. There was one on the school where her
smile and love for learning had inspired a fellow student to
stay in school and become a great philosopher. There was one
over a tree that she had planted in the yard of her house,
and one over the flowers that she had planted. There was one
over the place where her stubbornness had convinced the King
that the village needed a smoother road for travelers, and he
had smiled at her outspokenness and feisty nature.

There was a footprint right on top of the roof of her house.
That was where she had taken her children one night to watch
the stars. There was one over the pub in the village. There was
where she had met her husband and where they had fallen in love.

"I had forgotten all those things," said Sarah. "I was so
depressed that I only remembered the sad things and not the
good things. I guess I have made a difference." "And you will
in the future," said Faith. "There are stars to show your
grandchildren and a birthday to share with your friend. And
your husband needs a romantic evening at the pub."

Sarah sat for a long time until the sun had set and the Golden
Footprints disappeared and the lights of the village were lit
in the streets and homes below and flickered, not as Golden
Footprints, but as tiny footprints of fireflies. Soon Sarah
would start the climb down the mountain, guided by the
tiny lights below.

Sarah smiled and thanked Faith. She started on her way down the
mountain and knew that someday she would tell others about the
Mountain of the Golden Footprints and make a difference in
their lives too.

~ by Carol Troestler ~
© 1992
Used with permission and my sincere thanks to Carol.