Gossip

In "Life on the Mississippi", by Mark Twain, the first half of the book is a factual description of navigation on the Mississippi. At the time Twain wrote this book, the river was a living entity which changed its patterns and courses daily. Twain described how the river constantly changed its course over time so that river towns often lost their access to the river or the river curled around the towns so that the shore might be on the east side of town one year and on the west the following year.

The constant changes to the river were seen on the surface of the river as well. The pilot of a river boat was required to constantly keep an eye on the surface of the river because the way the water flowed over what was beneath told a story about the depth and terrain below the surface. This, of course, was important to the pilot, since the draft of the river boat needed so much water beneath to enable the boat to pass safely down river.

Over the years, the Army Corps of Engineers attempted to alter the flow of the river to end the constant flooding of Spring and to regulate the position of the river. The efforts of the Corps has enabled smoother passage for shipping up and down the river, but has also exacerbated problems from time to time with the flooding caused by heavy rains. In 1927, for instance, heavy flooding in the upper tributaries of the Mississippi ended up flooding the lower parishes of southeast Louisiana below New Orleans. When faced with the threat of flooding, the city fathers of New Orleans worked a deal with the governments of the lower parishes to allow the flood waters to alleviate themselves in those parishes in an effort to save the City of New Orleans from flooding. Dynamiting the levees, the waters flooded the poorer parishes south of Louisiana, saving the city from further damage.

At the same time, flood waters overwhelmed the levees north of Louisiana in Mississippi. Frantically, the wealthier citizens of the area enlisted the poorer citizens to sandbag the levees. At one point in these efforts, the poorer citizens were required to act as human sandbags to stop the water from flowing over the levees. It is no wonder that after this flooding there was a mass exodus from little towns and hamlets along the Mississippi to the cities to the north. It was hard enough to deal with the racism of the land owners, but dealing with the changes in the river, as well, was a whole different battle.

Sometimes the efforts we take to resolve the natural problems we encounter create bigger problems for us down the road. In 1927, the efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers to ameliorate the natural problems encountered on the Mississippi River and its tributaries caused enormous problems when combined with the normal changes caused by nature.

Just like the Mississippi, ripples on the surface of our world often indicate problems we cannot see below the surface. The normal course of life in a town like Griffin flows and meanders in its own way and changes from time to time. Serious changes in the speed and flow of peoples' private lives cause changes below the surface. Changes below the surface reflect on the surface as well. Like an iceberg, the surface changes only give a hint of what larger changes are going on beneath the surface.

There is so much going in the private lives of the people around us. Things that they may hide from the light of day. Events of which we don't even take notice. On the surface, they might just appear as a slight ripple. Below, all sorts of devilment are occurring. Then, like a stone being dropped in a pond, the effects can ripple out and effect the entire area of the waters.

Like the old pilots on the Mississippi, we have to constantly keep an eye on the surface of life around us. We have to learn how to read the surface and know when the ripples and cuts we see on the surface hint at greater events below. Its hard to know when these surface ripples are indications of bigger problems. But it is incumbent upon us to educate ourselves as to the meaning of those ripples.

Keep an eye on the waters around you.