For Battle of the Bands please visit here. For my take on "Big Rivers" then roll on down the page just like a river rolls...
Big Rivers
Big rivers haunt my memories. If I close my eyes to imagine a river--a river from my dreams and childhood recollections--it's a big wide river crawling in twists and turns across the land. I think about where it's going more than its origins. Or where it is at the moment I see it--ominous with mystery and foreboding.
When I was a child those big rivers scared me. If I was riding in the car over a metal grate bridge I might look down to see the river far below with some trepidation that maybe the whole thing might collapse into the waters below. What was in those murky waters? I wondered.
As the roadway followed the course of a big river I might clutch the car seat in fear that my father or mother would be driving too close and our car might go off the road careening into that lumbering flow of the waters. My concern would have likely been visible even if I had not verbally expressed my fear.
"Don't be a worrywart," my mother would say, laughing off my anxiety.
Apparently my younger sister Joy took delight in either the word or my agitation at her ribbing chiding me with, "You're such a worrywart."
I watched the river with fascination and awe. It was a mighty big river that I wouldn't want to fall into. Maybe I was right to respect big rivers from a proper perspective. I can't say I was terrified by those big rivers on seeing them. More than anything I was curious. And through the years I've remained curious about rivers in many ways.
When we think of big rivers in the United States most of us probably name off rivers like the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, or Hudson. Big rivers typically conjure up images of wide rivers--the rivers of commerce and transportation. We might think of barges and riverboats and impressive bridges crossing over the waters. But rivers are more than that.
What I used to think of as streams or creeks or some other similar smaller flows of water I have learned are actually just smaller rivers or tributaries that empty into larger rivers. Some rivers move slowly across the landscape while others rush wildly as they carve and shape the terrain. Big rivers are not only wide rivers, but also deep rivers and long rivers. Some rivers might be big not so much in physical stature as in their importance in history or how they relate to society or culture.
Throughout the ages people have recognized rivers and their importance to life. Just like the veins and arteries that circulate the blood that keeps us alive, the rivers of a nation circulate and distribute the water supply that we all depend upon to sustain the population and the natural of order of things.
All rivers have their place of importance, but the big rivers are the result of the many smaller rivers coming together in the flow of the vital resource of water. Maybe a metaphor for life? Society? History?
Rivers can be a metaphor for many things to those of us who think in metaphors. And a necessity for all of us no matter whether we think about rivers or not. The rivers exist despite us. Hopefully they will not disappear or be severely degraded because of us.
What is the closest big river to where you are? Which big river is your favorite? Have you ever taken a river cruise?
