ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Monty S. Leitch
SOURCE: MONTY S. LEITCH
LAST SUMMER, on a very hot day, I rode down a stretch of the Cowpasture in an inner tube. We ``tubers'' were quite a gang, in quite an assortment of tubes. We put in on a steep, shaley bank somewhere off a one-lane trail in Alleghany County, and got out - miles and miles below - under a stupendous cliff, onto a rocky beach.
Once you're on a river, and floating downstream, you keep on moving wherever the water takes you, whether you want to or not.
The day of our float, the Cowpasture was cold and up a little bit. Not up enough to cause alarm, but up enough to be rushing along right briskly. Particularly in the rapids, we moved where the river pushed us. More than once, for me, that meant moving into, against, and just barely over heaps of submerged river rocks. I came home pretty bruised, but aware, finally, that the best way to ride the rapids is to lie light in the tube and let the river do the work.
I never grew comfortable with this technique, though. A companion told me that she loved the thrill of letting the river ``carry me away.'' The ride for her was exciting, risky, sometimes a little scary, but always a thrill: a rush of heady adrenaline, a safe intoxication.
For me, relaxing into the ``carry'' - when I finally learned to do it - required intense concentration. ``Let the river carry you, let the river carry you.'' I said this like a mantra through every set of rapids. And I think I could ride rivers for the rest of my life and still never learn to appreciate any thrill in abandoning myself to the water's power.
No, I like those stretches of water that require my efforts: long, smooth stretches through which I must paddle with my arms if I'm to make any headway. Lengths of water through which it is I who navigate.
In a meeting the other day, someone said to me, ``You like to be in control, don't you?''
It's true that I'd rather paddle than merely float.
An entire system for categorizing personality types could probably be developed on how folks ride a river. There are those who are thrilled by being swept away, and those who find it difficult, even when it's wisest, to let the current carry. There are those who ``go with the flow,'' wherever it leads, at whatever speed, and those who struggle upstream, even against a current that's bound to move them down. There are those who stay the course, those who hug the banks and those who slide in and out of the current, always restless, always thinking that those faint ripples over there promise faster progress.
Once, on this river ride, the current threw me, and I found myself swimming after my inner tube, which spun away downstream. I kicked after it with all my might.
That was good: kicking the river. In a long run, I'd never have won. But for just a few minutes, I breasted and bested the water. ``Carry me now,'' I gasped. ``Carry me now, you river.''
Monty S. Leitch is a columnist for The Roanoke Times.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB