[MT-]

I read this today, thought it was funny. It's got to do with the saying "You never step into the same river twice" from Heraclitus:

You never step into the same river twice, but a rival you step on constantly. 'Everything flows'--even anger and resentment. According to Socrates, according to Plato, the original Greek of Heraclitus' fragment was Panta rhei, the verb of which streamed into the latin rivus, meaning 'rivulet' or 'brook.' A derived term...was rivalis, meaning 'a person with whom you share a river.' And so we have 'rival': a person who fishes the same waters as you--a person who, if wishes were fishes, would drown.

:lildevl:

 

[J.James]

As a recovering classics scholar, thanks!

I like the idea that everything flows. Emotions are fluid and ever changing, life and it's events are seemingly transient as the only consistency in this brief sojourn is change and inevitably death. It gives perspective that maybe we should live more intensely on those things that matter and influence us and each other and pay less homage to what are the more trivial matters that can hijack our lives and our emotions. Not to suggest everything is relevant of course

While the following isn't River related it is one of my favorite anecdotes from one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamont.

If you're a parent, you'll appreciate it or may e it will bring a laugh

"My son, Sam, at three and a half, had these keys to a set of plastic handcuffs, and one morning he intentionally locked himself out of the house. I was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper when I heard him stick his plastic keys into the doorknob and try to open the door. Then I heard him say, “Oh, ****.” My whole face widened, like the guy in Edvard Munch’s Scream . After a moment I got up and opened the front door. “Honey,” I said, “what’d you just say?” “I said, ‘Oh, ****,’*” he said. “But, honey, that’s a naughty word. Both of us have absolutely got to stop using it. Okay?” He hung his head for a moment, nodded, and said, “Okay, Mom.” Then he leaned forward and said confidentially, “But I’ll tell you why I said ‘****.’*” I said Okay, and he said, “Because of the ****ing keys!”

Haha

Cheers, thanks for sharing MT