Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down
Sit down, you’re rockin’ the boat –
Lyrics by Frank Loesser from “Guys and Dolls”
My husband and I have different memories. My memory was never good. I can’t remember proper nouns, including people’s names. I can’t remember dates. He remembers both names and dates and stories as well. I remember pictures and songs.
I have been thinking recently about this great ship we call America and how it seems to be buffeted about recently by a lot of forces as well as strident voices from both sides. That brought to mind the song “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” which in turn brought back long forgotten memories of when I was in India years ago.I was part of a group of eight that was visiting several orphanages in Andhra Pradesh. One of the closest towns was Narsapur and we journeyed there several times. Narsapur sits on the Western bank of the Godavari River, the second longest river in India, and at the time of our visit, there was no bridge from the Eastern side where we were located. We would take a ferry, which was no more than a rather primitive flat bottomed wood boat powered by oars, from shore to shore. Several in our group hesitated, but after making the trip several times, we became accustomed to the river crossings.
Then, one day, we were asked to visit a village south of Narsapur, considerably closer to where the Godavari empties into the Bay of Bengal. When we arrived at the shore, there was no ferry. It was obviously a place where the local fishermen set out as there were large circular fishing nets spread out on the nearby grass to dry and a number of primitive boats resembling very large wooden canoes resting on the shore. As you would imagine it was a picture out of biblical times, the type of boat the disciples were in when they cried out in fear for Jesus to calm the waters.
Augustine, the head of the mission orphanage where we were staying, commandeered one of the fishermen and convinced him to take our group to the other side. The river was much swifter as it was meeting the currents of the Bay of Bengal and much wider at that point. It was so wide in fact, that you could barely make out the opposite shore. It was with much trepidation that we all climbed into the boat. We had not even left the shore before we realized that this was not going to be your typical ferry ride. The boat rocked back and forth as we clambered in and tried to take our place. As I recall, there were no seats, so we had to make ourselves comfortable sitting or kneeling on the ribs of the boat.
Before we had even gotten in the boat, Augustine told us that we could not stand up once we left shore, we had to remain seated. That was fine until the boat actually moved away from the shore and into the current. The further from shore we got, the more frightened we became and eventually, one then another tried to stand up. That did not help. In fact, it made matters much worse and the boat rocked even more violently. Even Augustine began to panic and he kept yelling at us, “Sit down, sit down.” And, I would have added if I had not been too afraid to open my mouth, “Sit down, you’re rockin’ the boat.”
We eventually made it past the deep part of the river into more shallow and calm waters. And there, for me, was the most amazing part of our journey. In the shallows, we saw several fishermen, throwing their nets into the water. It is very hot in that part of India as it is so close to the equator, so they were scantily dressed with only a white cloth wrapped around their lower half like a pair of tighty whities. There was one fisherman in particular I will never forget. He was the most beautiful being I have ever seen. Very dark as most natives of that part of India are, but with the most beautiful features and stunning blue eyes. He put Paul Newman to shame. To this day, his face is engraved in my memory.
The trip back to the other side was fairly uneventful. We must have learned our lesson, that fear often causes us to take actions that put us even more at risk.
When I think of all the protests from both sides that is going on in our great nation today, I recall that boat ride. It’s not that I don’t think we should all stand up for what is right. I think we have a moral obligation to do so, but we must also heed our surroundings and the impact of our actions. If all of this standing up hurls us towards anarchy, we will all be the losers. It’s one thing for a boat to rock a little in shallow waters, but when it gets too deep, we have to sit down. Who knows, in doing so, we just might get a glimpse of something beautiful, beyond our imagination.