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I was born in 1955, two years after Sir Ed climbed the highest mountain in the world.
For my whole life he has been my hero and role model and he left us this week to seek further adventures.
I first met him in 1967 when he came to my school and held another 500 young and impressionable junior Kiwis minds in the palm of his huge hands, while he told us the gripping story of his adventures and exploits.
He then seamed to spend the rest of the day shaking hands with each and every one of us and talking to each of us individually, perhaps for only a minute or two each, but I certainly felt that I had been in the presence of a young demigod.
I have never again felt so inspired and motivated as I did on that day.
There was something truly magical about this colossal man above and beyond the fact that he climbed the world’s highest mountain before any other.
Perhaps Mt Everest could only lose her virginity to a mountain of a man.
Who knows?
During the rest of his life he raised billions of dollars to help the people of the Himalayas build schools and hospitals and improve their lot in life. The young teachers, doctors and many, many others who have graduated from these schools are no doubt his lasting legacy, for even though he was born a humble kiwi, he was truly a man of the world.
Next week will be his state funeral and leaders, friends and many others will gather here to pay their respects.
You and I wont get an invite to it, but each and everyone one us should give this man a moment silence as it take place, because I hope and believe there was a little bit of Sir Ed in everyone of us.
For all the glory that has been bestowed upon him during his long and illustrious career he has always remained a very humble man with his feet firmly planted in the earth.
When his personnel world came crashing down around him after the death of his first wife and daughter in a plane crash in the Himalayas, he found solitude in a Irish whiskey bottle and prescription drugs while he fought the demons that raged within him. To come through that ordeal with his sanity intact just added to the mana of Sir Ed in my eyes.
To quote Sir Ed from his autobiography “View from the summit”
"I have had my sorrows but, on the whole, life has been very good to me. I have enjoyed many adventures, supported many worthwhile causes and benefited from the generosity and love of wonderful companions. I can hardly ask for more than that."
Sir Ed’s lived a big life and he lived it to the fullest.
I guess you could say he “knocked the barstard off”
Each and every one of us would do well to follow in his footsteps.
But then, that is “Just an old trucker’s” point of view.
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