A River's Life, A River's Legacy
reprinted from ontheRock magazine ~ the DOTR founding publication

I am a frequent visitor to the Rock River.  I slip in quietly and let my canoe take me past communities of cliff swallows, through gaggles of fuzzy new geese, around ancient oak stumps on which a turtle dawdles.  I wonder at how much life this river sustains, at the power it holds, at it's ability to endure though each of us, human and beast, draws from it continually.  Sometimes, I close my eyes and imagine the river dammed only by beaver, its' banks rich with prairie forbs and tall grasses, and dotted with Native American
mounds. 

It is so quiet.  But it is difficult, today, to maintain my vision as the exigencies of life press in; the river, too, struggles as we crowd it with more vigor and intensity than did our predecessors, though they, too, sought the river's sustaining strength.  These ancient waters that support our lives today hold the tales, tragedies, and triumphs of those who came before us.  I go to the river to listen, and this is what I hear.