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July 5, 2004

Of Eagles and Currents and Lessons

For the Fourth of July Mrs. Peaceseed and I decided to take a canoe trip on the Gilbert River. The Gilbert River is located on Sauvie Island, a large island surrounded by the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. The Gilbert is a wonderful meandering river that winds three and one half miles from Sturgeon Lake in the middle of the island to the Multnomah Channel of the Willamette River. It is a place that continually reminds me of why I love America.

First Lesson - Eagles
It was a beautiful day and our hope for a day of peace and renewal were high. As if on cue, in the first minute of our adventure, we were greeted by an amazing display in the sky overhead. There, an Osprey, with a fish in its claws, was desperately evading a wild attack by a bald eagle a bare 150 feet above us. They swerved and wheeled in the sky for forty-five seconds, the osprey dodging and darting to avoid the relentless attack by the eagle. The eagle attacked again and again, the osprey, clinging to its catch, kept making the larger bird miss, sometimes by what seemed inches. Finally, the eagle tired and sailed off to the south, exhausted by the chase. The osprey fled with its catch, looking somewhat shaken. I had never witnessed such aggressive behavior by a bird of that size. And my understanding of eagles were expanded. This was unvarnished aggression. I had always thought of eagles as graceful, noble fish eaters swooping down to catch the unwary fish too near the surface. The noble eagle is also the scavenger and the thief. I still love the eagle. I am just now more aware of another part of its nature. I also think that a country must be careful when choosing a national symbol. And it makes me wonder what our country's direction would have been if, when the choice was made, we had chosen the runner-up, the turkey, instead.

Second Lesson - Currents
We paddled on through a beautiful landscape. The river, 100-125 feet wide, wound first to the left and then to the right, with banks covered in yellow flowers and vines. Beyond this abundance were willows and tall oaks and cottonwoods and firs. Small birds sang from every hidden place. A tall snag erupted with fifty swallows, circling out and rushing back in, as if on rubber bands. Herons and goldfinches and robins and orioles. Sparrows and bush-tits and terns and gulls and mystery birds. In clearings on the banks, we saw great mountains rising up in the distance. St. Helens, Adams, Hood, grand and majestic.

The paddling up the river was mildly strenuous, as a steady current limited our progress. We stopped often along the way, peering through binoculars at small wonders, caught a bite to eat, hung onto the tip of a snag rising out of the river to admire that which is America. I commented several times to Mrs. P. that it was going to be fun letting the current carry us back to our starting point. On we paddled. And as we paddled it seemed that our efforts became easier. That we had somehow gained a second wind. The final part of our up-river journey seemed effortless. At the end of three and one-half miles, the river opened out into a large lake - named after sturgeons, but mostly filled with huge carp lounging in the shallows and smaller fish darting in the muddy waters. The waters seemed still as the river joined the lake.

We rested for a time, and since it was after six-thirty, we decided to head back and enjoy the smooth glide down to the mouth of the river. We set out with much anticipation of our rapid glide back to the car. But as we paddled, we noticed the paddling had not gotten any easier. In fact, it seemed as strenuous as the journey up. We paddled down the middle of the river, because we thought that that looked like the place where the current would be strongest. A large snag loomed ahead and, as we passed it, I was startled to observe the current seemed to be moving up river! As we paddled on, we saw more snags and they were definitely being pulled by a current that emanated from the termination of the river, not the headwaters. And then it hit us. The Columbia had tides that extended far up river, seventy-five miles from the ocean, all the way to the Gilbert River and beyond. We had caught this tide going against us both ways. When we got back to our home in Peaceville, I checked this out and found that on this day there was a five inch low tide on the way in, and a one and a quarter foot high tide that we paddled against on the way out. To make a long story short, a steady paddle of two hours got us back to "civilization," tired, but elated and laughing at our discoveries.

So what did I learn, besides the obvious - that sometimes Johnny's not as smart as he thinks he is? Well first, that most of us do seem to often be going against the current. That we're prone to taking the more difficult path. The one that hasn't been tried. The one that is filled with uncertainty. We do this because that path can also present unique opportunities, ones that can lead to new discoveries. Do we fail - yes, often - but I believe that the path less traveled is often the richest. That path allows us to discover for ourselves the direct experience of the world.

I also am once again reminded that belief is a trap. That its only worth is determined by the degree to which it matches actual events. We have all suffered when overlooking the "currents" of our lives, or followed a leader whose acts were not aligned with our values. We have all, at one time or the other, acted on faith when acting on intuition was the better choice.

My sincerest hope for America on this, its 228th birthday, is that we all use our finest intuition to discern truth from propaganda, to never accept blindly what our leaders or media tell us. My hope extends to the rest of the world that they will call us to task when we fail to do so. And I hope that the community of humankind pays very close attention when signs are presented and when mysteries are revealed.

Johnny