If Icarus tried white-water rafting instead...

If I had been Icarus, I would have tried white-water rafting instead.  Gravity works both ways of course, but at least wax and feathers float...I think. :)

In my fourth week in Uganda, I had quite possibly the most defining experience I've had in my life: going white-water rafting along the mighty River Nile.  It was, like most of my experiences here, humbling in nature.  The photo on the right is of my classmates and I navigating the rapids.  I am at the front, first from the left in appearance.  Anyways, I had never been white-water rafting before, and I quite literally thought I would break my neck on more than a few occasions during the 35km paddle up the source of the Nile.  One quickly gets an appreciation of just how 'breakable' they really are when being thrashed about in waves several times bigger than they are.  Packaging is everything, and thankfully the craft and I held our own. 

As we negotiated our way along the potentially bone crushing drops and swirls, I found myself not only hanging on for dear life, but also appreciating it for all was worth up to that point.  I wouldn't go so far as saying that I thought I was going to die: we thankfully had the benefit of having a well-seasoned guide onboard our raft, so the only threats we faced were avoiding the rocks should we have spilled, and not soiling our shorts in the process.  The latter of course, being the worst of the two--I would much rather bear the indignity of a broken bone or two then face the embarrassment of having 'shat' myself.  Nevertheless, it was exhilarating to feel the cool splash of the waves on my face, all the while staring down some of the world's most challenging rapids--guide or no guide.

The parallels to life and white-water rafting are great; we are all faced with intimidating situations where we feel as though we will surely be swept up and swallowed whole.  We all "hang on" when, despite our greatest efforts to circumnavigate the ugly situations, we are forced to face them in all their immensity.  The only difference is in our attitudes and to what degree we have been challenged beforehand.  Quite arguably, this is a rather simplistic analogy, but sometimes that is what one needs to minimize challenges and bring them down to size.

I can say with relative certainly that I have been challenged in life before--and often at that.  Yet these challenges pale in comparison to this whole experiment I'm now sarcastically dubbing Ugand-ious.  Much as my attitude keeps me afloat at times, it is ultimately at the whim of the environment it inhabits.  But, it is in the spirit of this very recognition where defeatism is given wings.  Echoing Icarus much as I may be, the point I'm attempting to make is that limitations (physical or otherwise) are constructs that our minds place on a visualized outcomes.  Gravity has always been a great de-motivator, but it is our minds that find ways of resisting it.  It is our ingenuity and perseverance that provide answers to seemingly insurmountable odds.

As I sit here typing in the faint glare that my Macbook provides, I'm reminded that I'm not exactly working for a laureate position here, I'm just trying to survive it and write something half-worthy at the finish line.  Which incidentally, won't seem to come soon enough.  And, with my escape from my own personal 'Crete' plotted, I wish you all a good evening. I'm tired and beginning to make little sense :)


PS.  If you aren't familiar with the story of Icarus, see here for a description.