Life Lessons From A Kayak: Healthy Roots by Nina Bingham

I paddled Hagg Lake in Gaston, Oregon. It's a man-made lake with a capacity of nearly 60,000 acre-feet of water, so clean and clear it's healthy to swim in, and gem-like blue-green in color. I found myself amazed at being able to see to the bottom when I approached the shore. It was a perfect Summer's day: 75 degrees and sunny, a light breeze kicking up some wake. Jet skies and speed boats with teenage wake-boarders were putting on a show for the rest of us slow-movers. I didn't know what I would see that might inspire me to write...it seemed like I had checked my brain at the dock, and I wasn't going back for it. My friend casually noted as we paddled that it was the trees nearest to shore that had fallen in the lake; their roots didn't have enough soil to support their skyward growth. I let the comment pass until it occurred to me that  roots are important for trees, but also important for people.

In 1977 ABC aired "Roots," the first novel-inspired miniseries portrayal of the life of African American slaves, which received unprecedented Nielsen ratings. It was a landmark in television history, because it was the first time Americans had collectively stopped to "look back" at the carnage of slavery. Since then, the word "roots" has developed a slang meaning: to revisit one's past. For the African American, revisiting familial history can be both inspiring and painful. Inspiring because of the strength and fortitude shown by ancestors, yet painful because of the degradation and oppression that slavery inflicted. Regardless of ethnicity, our familial history can be a tangled web of joys and sorrows; I know mine is.

There is family history I'd like to forget: some skeletons that fell out of my family's closet along the way. Family is often confusing, annoying or embarrassing, but if you're lucky, it also can be a source of strength. The mentally ill clients I see who suffer the most are the ones without family. In family therapy lingo we like to say, "They don't have enough support." Kind of like the trees at the lake: their roots don't go deep enough so when the wind comes, they topple over. 

You may be thinking, "I don't need family. You don't know my family! I'd rather do it on my own." But here's something trees know that we don't: the root system of trees is key to their survival, so while they can go "rootless" for a number of years, eventually, it catches up with them. "Trees have stored energy in their branches and trunks that they use to survive after roots are damaged. It may take two or three years for trees to begin to look like they are declining. And it may take up to five or ten years for root damage to result in tree death" (Airhart & Zimmerman, 2012).

Damage is an interesting word. Families are close in proximity, so they have the power to inflict the most damage on us. In fact, Freud's psychoanalysis is still practiced today, in part, due to childhood trauma. Simultaneously, family can also serve as a reinforcing and stabilizing agent. Like the necessary minerals for healthy root growth, family can enable us to feel "a part" of human history, and gives our life richer meaning and perspective. At their best, family can support one another when the winds blow. As a group, African Americans and other ethnic groups have learned something from their history that white Americans may have forgotten: while family relationships may be difficult or even maddening, "No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place" (Angelou, 2012). 

Life Lesson From A Kayak: Healthy roots are necessary for growth. 

References:

Airhart, D. L., Zimmerman 111, G. (2012). Tree Root Myths. Retrieved from:  http://www.tlcfortrees.info/tree_root_myths.htm  

Angelou, M. (2012). Maya Angelou Quotes. Brainy Quote. Retrieved from:  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/maya_angelou.html