Build on This
White Creek is a beautiful rivulet in central Wisconsin. It runs as gently as from a scene out of Kenneth Grahame’s “Wind in the Willows.” Like Grahame’s story about life on a river, the creek has many willows. It also has pines, oaks, maples and more. The abundance of plant life shading White Creek makes the hidden waterway “chase and chuckle” and “leave them with a laugh,” just as Grahame described the river in his book. Fishing enthusiasts claim that trout congregate in White Creek. This is especially true below the mill race in a town named after the stream. Pike, walleye, catfish and pan fish can be caught by the score from its cold, clear waters. Since the stream is part of the Wisconsin River flowage, eventually White Creek “chuckles” through forests and fields with mists in the morning, to join the larger body.
Most hydrologists will quickly verify that change is a constant with natural water flows. Rivers and creeks form oxbows, develop side branches then abandon them, switch deltas and even move their main channel. Whole towns have been abandoned by rivers and research suggests that humanity’s efforts to constrain that movement has unintended consequences. https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/human-engineered-changes-on-mississippi-river-increased-extreme-floods/
I haven’t explored the White Creek delta into the Wisconsin River for many years now. Experience from my last excursion showed that the side river channel which White Creek ran into was silting up. Change happens. White Creek’s answer was to carve a new bed into the sand and boldly go where the Wisconsin no longer went, to eventually meet the main river where the side river branch used to join. I really must re-explore this but only after the end of the mosquito season.
Not that long ago, my extended family had a reunion in the inspiring Great Glacial Lake area of Wisconsin where White Creek flows. (Geological evidence indicates that the whole area once was a huge lake made of backed up glacial melt.) The family laughed, compared memories, debated a tiny bit but mostly loved on each other. Though the religious heritage of my people is eastern European Pentecostal, change happens. Today the religious, political, and general world view of my extended family is quite varying. As we sprayed each other against mosquitos between ATV and dirt bike rides, fireworks, bean bag competitions, bonfires, pole throwing contests, star gazing, much too much food and people of multiple generations just hanging out with each other, I was reminded per the writings of the founders of our United States national system, that the family is the basic building block of a healthy democracy. Changes will come and go but the family is the stabilizing force in the entire matter. https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/the-true-origin-society-the-founders-the-family Reunions are good because if done correctly, per the founder’s point, reunions demand the face to face humanization of all relationships no matter what changes may have happened. Humanization training can result in effecting for good, our religion, our politics, our neighborhood relations, even how we drive in traffic. By definition, that then makes us better citizens, voters, and politicians. Let me explain with lessons learned from many reunions.
Respect is only earned. You cannot demand it, especially if you just were disrespectful to someone.
I am not the center of the universe. I must take everyone into account. Therefore sometimes I must let others enjoy something while I step back and celebrate their enjoyment.
Respectful debate is good. That is how we learn from each other. “Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 NIV. Polite objecting to something while presenting a good alternative is not judgement or hate and emotional histrionics on a topic ends up only being manipulation.
Change happens so deal with it. This is true for water flows and people. We build on a healthy family to help have wisdom in the face of change.
Everyone must pitch in, each with their own capabilities. Hopefully non-contributors are few or we are in trouble, especially during dinner preparation and also clean up after the reunion. Step in occasionally and take care of the children so that the parents can enjoy themselves for a while.
It should be easy to see why these points are the foundation of healthy democracy.
One note taking all of the above in mind: If no family is reasonably available at this time in life, an alternative is a nearby church of your choice. Concerning the church recommendation, as per many writings in this website, this author insists that all religions share the same set of privileges and responsibilities to the wider society. This includes atheism, which is a family of religions everywhere as much as Judaism, Christianity and Islam are. Therefore other faiths than my Christianity can interpret my church recommendation here as they wish. Welcome to respectful debate in a good democratic setting as taught to us by the meandering of White Creek and a family reunion nearby. Even though we may greatly disagree on even important things, we can still have a great time together this fall and explore the confluence of White Creek and the Wisconsin River. Consider it. It will be fall colors and the mosquitos will be mostly gone!
We should all build on this.
