He was after the truth. At least, that's what he told himself.

He believed it, but

any rational person on the outside could see he was lying to himself. It was
apparent he was really only after his own truth that he'd already decided and was
after this truth because the facts didn't line up with the truth he wanted. So he
continued to tell everyone he was after the truth oblivious to the real truth
sitting right in front of him.
Rhonda prided herself on always taking the path less traveled. She'd decided to do
this at an early age and had continued to do so throughout her entire life. It was
a point of pride and she would explain to anyone who would listen that doing so was
something that she'd made great efforts to always do. She'd never questioned this
decision until her five-year-old niece asked her, "So, is this why your life has
been so difficult?" and Rhonda didn't have an answer for her.
He read about a hike called the incline in the guidebook. It said it was a
strenuous hike and to bring plenty of water. “A beautiful hike to the clouds”
described one review. “Not for the faint-hearted,” said another. “Not too bad of a
workout”, bragged a third review. I thought I’d hike it when I fly in from Maryland
on my day off from the senior citizen's wellness conference. I hiked 2 miles a day
around the neighborhood so I could handle a 1.1-mile hike. What a foolish mistake
that was for a 70-year-old low-lander.
He watched as the young man tried to impress everyone in the room with his
intelligence. There was no doubt that he was smart. The fact that he was more
intelligent than anyone else in the room could have been easily deduced, but nobody
was really paying any attention due to the fact that it was also obvious that the
young man only cared about his intelligence.
The time to take action was now. All three men knew in their hearts this was the
case, yet none of them moved a muscle to try. They were all watching and waiting
for one of the others to make the first move so they could follow a step or two
behind and help. The situation demanded a leader and all three men were followers.