As I sit today, pondering over my past, present, and future, I have yet again called to consciousness the rivers that I have always correlated my life with. I cannot truly recollect the accurate number of times that I have watched as leaves floated listlessly past me, through a riffle, swirled in an eddy, and disappeared around a distant bend in the river. I've never honestly considered, until now, however, the arduous path that may lie before them, of which, each leaf has no knowledge of. Will it be blown astray of it's course by a sudden gust of wind? Will it be forced to veer wildly off track in an unnoticed eddy, into what seems a state of swirling, rushing limbo, only to be returned in time to it's original course? Will it be devoured by an invisible, yet ominous, undertow, dragged hopelessly to depths unknown? Or...will it continue on it's path, unhindered, undaunted by the ever-changing river around it? Day by day, we face the same possibility of unknown turmoil as we move down the course of the river that is life. Individually, our course on the river will never be the same as that of the people around us, though we are all on the same river. Tomorrow may bring a gentle, everflowing forward momentum, or it may drag, push, pull, or blow us at will into innumerable directions with each having it's own very unique obstacles and outcomes. We know not where the river may push us, nor do we know when, or how rapidly these changes may occur, for we know not what lies downstream of us. What exists, and what will occur, downstream is forever unknown, for we cannot look around each bend that lies in the river. We may have a clear line of sight to each bend, or riffle, or eddy, but beyond that, our view is generally obstructed. The sun may be shining and the winds may be calm, but as we pass the next obstacle in our course, violent winds and storms may arise with an unpredictable burst of fury, changing our current course forever. Perhaps the course will be better than the one we were on. Conversely, the course could send us into yet another obstacle, another less favorable outcome. Until we have each seen where our own personal, unique course leads...until we have seen what is downstream...we do not know what is downstream. In the words of Heraclitus, "Everything flows, nothing stands still, nothing endures but change." The point I have come to realize, and am attempting to convey, (in my own warped context, of course), is this: Because we can never fully know or understand what lies downstream in the river, all we can ever have certainty of is that all things lie downstream. Where, when, how, why, good, bad...all unknown, but always downstream. The only way to ascertain what lies downstream is to ride the river, accept it's uncertainty, roll with the eddy, allow the wind to move you, for while your course may be unknown, it's outcome will be downstream. Hope this made some sense to someone other than me, if not, it's only interpretation, right?
Thanks for reading! -M
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