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Discover Mid-America — August 2006
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Getting away
by Bruce Rodgers, Editor/Publisher
Americans work too long during a single day and just plain too much overall. Compared to other developed nations in Europe and in Japan, we live at our businesses. This is especially true of small business people, and owners and managers of antique malls and shops included.
Add myself to that list. And we know we work hard.
Some of you may not give it much thought. Work, as an activity, can be healthy, stimulating and defining to a person. Many people who claim to be retired, view that label as just a moniker to add to their name, not as a state of being.
This July has become my month for me to think about not working — taking some kind of a break, recharging the batteries, skipping rocks across a pond, sitting on a cliff overlooking a river or just laying down in the grass staring up at the sky imagining which particular cloud formation resembles what in life. Inactivity has its benefits as long as it’s not spent in front of a TV.
I got a taste of my “time-off” time a few weeks back. A woman friend and I drove down to Mack’s Creek in southern Missouri near the Little Niangua River for a one-day float trip. It was during the week so we figured the river wouldn’t be crowded with folks like us.
The Little Niangua is the smaller sibling of the Niangua, which flows east of where we were. Both rivers empty into the Lake of the Ozarks.
I knew the river would be down but I just wanted to be away, to be outside — no phones, no computer, no traffic…just some calm.
There were lots of shallow spots where I had to drag the canoe along, much to the delight of my female companion. But we were rewarded by stretches of serenity where the loudest sound came from our paddles moving through the river water.
The surrounding natural beauty bought me back to myself. We came upon snakes and turtles sunning themselves on logs, and many birds. More than one great blue heron stayed just ahead of us as we moved down river, taking flight when we breached some invisible boundary. American bitterns lurked in the marsh vegetation, seeking amphibians for a meal. Scores of turkey vultures glided overhead. And everything seemed varying shades of green and blue and brown, broken up here and there by colorful butterflies.
Thinking back, I now realize I didn’t spend enough time on that river. We could have dallied longer, explored more. Such realizations happen when one returns to work.
I’m looking to get away again soon. I have a Chicago trip planned but that’s work related. I need back on the water, or in the mountains…somewhere I’m not reminding myself how much Americans work.
Bruce Rodgers can be contacted at publisher@discoverypub.com.
> Editor’s Notebook Archive — past columns