Tsunami

The first-person accounts and footage of the Tsunami in Japan is hard for me to turn away from. I have such a creepy interest in the power of flowing water.

It's a bit hard to explain. Take heights, for example. I can look out an airplane window with no problem. I can look out a high-story window and enjoy the view.

Looking straight down, however, is like the flowing water thing. I'm curious enough to look straight down, but then after several seconds, I have to get back from the view. It's not a "frightening" thing so much as it is a creepy thing.

So when I'm next to a large, flowing river, once in a while, I can get pretty mesmerized.

I'm not sure I'm even making sense to myself, so I'll conclude with this anecdote. When I was about 12 or so, I went tubing down the Apple River in Wisconsin. At one point I found myself so in my own world that I allowed myself to flow all of the way to the end of the line, to the wire that had a sign saying words to the effect of, "No tubing beyond here."

I don't recall being scared or anything, but I just held on to the wire, still in half a trance, staring past the wire at what looked like an increasingly strong current. An adult waded out, took my hand, and pulled me to shore. He didn't "save" me or anything, but the experience was perhaps creepy enough for me to have had a lasting impact.

Oddly, however, it's not for myself I get "creeped" out about flowing water, it's for others. I don't know how I'll deal with it if I ever taking my kids to the Apple River. One thing's for sure: I will need to keep them in close proximity to me the entire time.