Down the River

It’s Dec-ember. The 10^th month that is the 12^th.  (Look it up.) The full pond fed by the waterfall of the preceding 11 months before turning to the future new year. This image comes to mind as we—wife, daughter and grandchildren— spent the last day of November hiking in the Columbia River Gorge, with this waterfall greeting us after some 3 miles of walking.

 

December, the month of miracles— the oil that kept burning, the Virgin birth, the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, enlightenment of the Buddha and more. Yet again I propose that the more interesting miracles are right here, right now, right in front of our eyes and ears. Like this waterfall. How can it be that this forceful gush of water that feeds into a small pool and then keeps rushing out into a river never runs dry? How does the water actually cycle around without losing a drop? I’m sure there is a scientific explanation, but to me, it’s an extraordinary miracle. 

 

It's also a potent metaphor for past, present and future. I think of present as a pond or lake that may seem still and calm and complete in itself but is actually fed by the underground stream or overground waterfall of the past. Somewhere in the lake, there is an outlet that flows into a creek or river into the future. So though the present of the lake may appear self-sufficient, it is not a vibrant and living body unless perpetually fed by the past and flowing into the future. If the inlet is blocked, the lake will eventually dry up or simply run out through the outlet. If the outlet is blocked, it will overflow and flood the land. If both the inlet and outlet are blocked, the lake turns into a stagnant pond, no new water to cleanse and refresh it. All three are necessary to each other.

 

So what happens when we don’t know our past? When we choose to ignore the source of our health as a living body? When history in schools becomes a list of meaningless dates to be corrected on meaningless tests by computers?

What happens when we don’t attend to the future, making decisions based solely on what we think serves us now with no forethought about what will happen downstream? As mentioned, we grow stagnant or dry up or overflow aimlessly. 

 

Welcome to 2024. 2025. And more unless we finally commit to getting the cleansing water flowing. Kids graduating schools without an ounce of historical reference. Adults voting for their savings account in the moment. Politicians and corporations selling the future generation down a dead-end river for profit and power. 

 

Meanwhile, the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge keep flowing in their magnificence, in their miraculous and relentless renewal of life, inviting us to notice, be properly awed and follow their example. That’s my plan, at any rate. On a small level, I’m swimming in it all as I make music for the elders in their 80’s and 90’s, music from 300 to 50 years ago, as I teach teachers in their 20’s through 50’s how to make their students’ lives happier in this moment, as I teach the kids themselves to send them downriver prepared to navigate the rapids and leisurely float down the calm waterways. When it works well, miracles abound, in December and every month. Down the river we go.