b'Hear Her Speak Take Time to ListenA couple of desperate weeks laterAs time unfolds in weeks, monthsWe need to find the silent spaces,after the energy of search andand years ahead, I hope we canthe stillness in the corner of an rescue had settled into determined,remember that the urge to dootherwise noisy life. Maybe over quiet grief of recoveringImadesomething could be misguided ifthere next to the window, or in the a visit to ground zero inwe let it cross over into trying tosunset glow of a big front porch. Kerrville. To witness and test whatwipe out the memory altogether. I have learned in my years ofThat our efforts can lead usLets sit down on the welcoming, marriage to the river. Totoward forgiveness but not tooutstretched arm of an ancient experience and grieve theforgetting what the river can andfallen tree. Lets lean up against aftermath of the floods first-hand.must do for herself. We can learnthe trunk of a surviving one. Many To listen, once again, to theto be respectful and holistic in ourof us are grieving what has been lessons our river sisters keepattention to her needs.losta dream, a future, a precious trying to teach us. The story ofhuman beingwe need to honor that pilgrimage is shared in wordsI have learned to trust her. She isand give time for that, too. and pictures on these pages. crying when we bull-doze, cut up, haul off, pile and burn all of herAnd listen, and wait. Not jump up In retrospect . Im aware that mywork. She is only trying to createand do something, but give time visit, in part, reflected my longingquicker recovery. She too wants toto sit with our grief. To listen to to do somethinga longingbe beautifully healed and continuethe river as she speaks. To allow shared by so many of us in thea long life of renewal after thisher ancient, sacred wisdom to sink immediate aftermath of the floods.severe flooding.into our bones. Do something to ease the pain of those hurting, get down on ourShe asks us to make wise use ofOnly then can we forgive, knees and dig with our own hands,all her elements for the sake of aremember, know . what to do.if thats what it takes, to unearth abetter future. She has been here miracle of survival. Do somethinglonger than any of us. She knowsWith deepest gratitude,that will help us forgive the riverher way to the oceansand backBill Neiman for her role in the losses ofagain.2025irreplaceable, innocent, and tender human beings. Do something toYes, our sacred, ancient, wise old recover and begin to heal. rivers are speaking to us now.'