Why Get Up Again?

I had the below image on my desk at work for quite some time. In fact, I still have it somewhere in a box. One of the few possessions that I was able to fit into my car to take with me when I moved to Vegas.

Why, exactly, are we supposed to get up, dust ourselves off, and try again? Of course, if you truly want something you shouldn't let failure get in the way. Sometimes, though, we wind up in darkness. The inky black where you can't see or remember wanting anything.

Meh.
Sometimes, "meh" just covers over everything. There comes a time when you've been down in the pit so long you can't remember why you started climbing anymore. You try to call the memory to mind or imagine a reason to keep on climbing, but everything that shows up is covered in "meh." None of it seems worth the effort because the desire for it is too weak. 

For me, those "sometimes" are pretty damn frequent. I really don't get a whole lot of climbing done. More often than not, I'm just holding on. Usually what keeps me holding on is the one desire that I seem to be able to maintain no matter how dark and dreary things get. The desire not to cause suffering to others. Whatever keeps you from letting go, I guess.