Strange Rivers

Standing on a hill in the land of Effluence [click for song-might take a while to begin], in a large company of people, I saw rivers, dozens of them, of a variety of widths, flowing in all directions. several were close by--within a short walk--others were distant, some so distant as to discourage exploration. In some the currents were quite plainly powerful, others flowed deeply and slowly. Whitewater frothed and jumped in some of them, and others barely moved, looking more like long, narrow lakes. Perhaps they were. Some were muddier than the muddy Mississippi, others sparkled with water that must have gurgled up from a spring. Some stank with foul effluvia, others were cluttered with refuse. And every river that I could see had swimmers, some were quite crowded with them, others carried only a few. In every visible river I saw varying numbers of what looked to be corpses floating placidly along or being tossed by rapids and currents.

Each of us understood that we had to choose a river, to dive in and swim, and it quickly became apparent that the clearest and liveliest streams were the most difficult to reach and then navigate.The widest, most polluted rivers carried most of the living and the dead. Some among us simply tumbled into these rivers, the widest, nearest, and dirtiest flows, seemingly without thinking. They would then frantically cast about for some piece of flotsam to keep them from sinking, or try to latch onto swimmers, taking some of them into the depths with them. Some just sank. I saw some among us being pushed or goaded toward a particular river and then pushed in. A few of these people managed to make it to the banks of those rivers, crawl out, and look for a more suitable river of their own choosing.

There were those who carefully studied the flow, direction, temperature and purity of as many rivers as they could explore before taking their plunge. And a relative few left our company claiming that they intended to look for far away rivers they believed were pure, wild, and carrying few if any swimmers. Even a few of these attempted to goad companions along, but rarely succeeded.

I had a difficult time choosing my river, and stood too long staring at them, wondering where each would take me. There were others who had this difficulty as well. Some of us debated the relative value of various rivers, and speculated concerning the ones we couldn't see. We divided ourselves by preference and hotly debated the relative merits of the river we had not yet committed to. There were some who even argued the merits of the filthiest streams. Some insisted that the most distant rivers were the only ones worth considering, yet showed little inclination to set out in search of them.

Floods are not unknown in Effluence, in fact they are dependably regular. Even knowing this, I and my disputants stayed too long arguing our points of view. Others had remained because they were too confused or preoccupied to make a choice. We were all very suddenly swept away and eventually deposited by the receding flood waters into various flows not of our own choosing. I found myself in a river I had not studied, hence I did not know where it would take me, how long the trip would last, or what dangers I might encounter along the way. It did, however, seem agreeable enough, so I just went with the flow.

All rivers flowing from Effluence, like all rivers anywhere, either flow into other rivers, lakes, or directly into the sea, and all passengers in these rivers eventually reach an ocean. The trip was a very long one for me, though once I'd reached the sea it seemed like no time had passed at all. Everyone who set out from Effluence was reunited in the sea, no matter which river they had taken, or which river had taken them. And here was the surprising thing for me: every single person, those I had mistakenly taken for corpses, those who ran the most distant or dangerous rivers, those who flowed with the masses, those whom the flood had swept away, and those who were goaded by others, had a critical story to tell, an interesting story to tell, every single one; and no two stories are quite alike. Some of these stories were large and expansive, others were focused and carefully followed a single thread. I am still listening to these stories and telling mine, and, happily (though many of these stories are quite sad) it will take a very long time indeed to hear them all.