David Kircher

English Comp II
Andrew Sippi
Climbing Turnabout Mountain
And because we climbed together / We each made it to the top. (Rosenberg 37). This
is often the case in life one person cannot make it in this world alone. This is an example of
good advice given from a Grandfather to his son and from the son to his own child. However,
this poem is about more than our need for companionship in life, it is about having a firm
foundation to build on. Because if you shrink from one challenge it is much easier to give up on
the next difficulty you face. In the poem, Turnabout Mountain by Byron Von Rosenberg from
the book Thinking Upside Down (Rosenberg 36-37). Life is like a mountain that we all have to
climb, life can have minor setbacks such as the loss of your only vehicle, or an illness, or major
setbacks such as the loss of a job, or the loss of a loved one, but with the love and support of
friends and family and a good education and stable home life it is possible to get to the top of the
mountain and reap all the rewards life offers.
But then the oxen died, reading the poem it seems almost minor until you realize that
the oxen were the only means of transportation up that mountain (Rosenberg 36-37). At the
same time, it can be seen as an allegory for some of the smaller disasters that strike. Sometimes
when we are young and just starting out on life's journey we find that the setbacks that come
across our path can seem devastating. We all have to deal with unexpected circumstances such
as an auto accident that totals your only car or the loss of income because of an illness. We all
know that there are a large number of accidents every year but we do not really comprehend how

many until we look at an official count. For instance accord to the National Highway and Traffic
Safety Administration, there were 5,419,000 accidents in 2010 (NHTSA). This number
represents only the number of accidents not the number of vehicles that were involved.
Generally speaking, most people are not prepared to replace a car at a moments notice.
Therefore, even those who were not injured in an accident can find themselves facing setbacks.
In the form of the need for a new car or a replacement while their car is being repaired. Life can
be complicated with a prolonged illness whether it is you or a loved one. The loss of work and
income can greatly affect your quality of life. There is the Family and Medical Leave Act it is
set in place to help employees keep their jobs when they have such a crisis. However, this act
only gives you the time off, it does not pay you so there is no income coming into the household
(USDL).
A blizzard came howling from the north/ With twenty feet of snow (Rosenberg 36). As
we move through life and acquire more possessions and more responsibilities, we find that the
setbacks are more devastating and harder to deal with. Dealing with the loss of a job or the loss
of a loved one can be hard to face especially when there are probably children, mortgages, and
an array of bills to be dealt with. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the unemployment
rate is at 5.8 percent and the number of unemployed persons is 9 million for the month ending
October 2014 (Statistics). The country is still in a state of economic instability. There are fewer
full time jobs and what full time positions that are out there are coveted by those that have them.
Many jobs went to less than forty-hour workweeks this last year so now you must hold two jobs
to equal what one job once did and to meet your responsibilities. Moreover, the loss of a loved
one can create turmoil and upheaval in a home. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention

show that the number of deaths in the United States is 2,515,458 a year (Prevention). This can
be a major setback in the lives of millions of families each year.
Its all for one and one for all / To conquer Turnabout Mountain (Rosenberg 36) The
mountains in life can be conquered with the love and support of family and friends. Having
someone in your corner or at your back can make facing the challenges in life more doable.
The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It ... is a
perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers
a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.
(Neifert) Families are the backbone of an individual's support system. Just as friends are the
second line of defense. Good friends stand with you through the good time and the bad. True
friends are there to help and they love you even though they know all your faults.
All are gone who climbed with me / And made that trip so bold. Yet they live on in me /
And well live on in you. (Rosenberg 37) Those that make it to the top of the mountain are the
lucky ones that have a solid support system behind them. If they are fortunate enough to have a
stable home environment with family and friends to encourage them to keep going and never
give up. Parents should encourage their children to stay in school and to get the best education
they can possible get. Those parents are giving their children the best possible chance in life.
Jobs in todays market place are high tech. and geared toward people with higher educations.
The statistics from the Web site, Statistic Brain shows that 3,030,000 children drop out of
school annually. The amount of money a high school graduate earns over his lifetime is more
than $260,000 over a dropout in his lifetime. (Education Week) A person with a bachelors
degree can expect to earn 2.1 million in their lifetime. (US Gov.) It is important that we support

those in our lives that are just starting up their mountain we should do our best to give the love
and support they need to make it to the top of Turnabout Mountain. (Rosenberg 36)
The blizzard came , the oxen died. But we climbed while we had breath.(Rosenberg
37). This is the lesson that we all need to learn. It is always better to keep trying. Life comes
with setbacks from destroyed vehicles or illnesses and even worse the death of friends or family
still we have to keep going and facing the challenges, which life gives us. Those of us whom are
lucky enough to have strong family support need to fully appreciate it and take the advantages of
that support and of the education it allows us to gain. The poem Turnabout Mountain is found
in a childrens book surrounded by other silly poems and yet it teaches a great lesson about the
need to keep going even when all the odds are against us.