ne of the most fundamental ideals GCRG continues to stress is cooperation; getting along with each other. All in the same boat and all that. We do better than most groups. We have to.

   But we must remain vigilant; we must keep after it. Our community is too tight, our boat is too small. Just as it’s necessary to wash your hands a lot on a river trip lest something unhealthy start to grow, we’ve got to constantly wash our hands of the excess baggage of animosity before it does lasting damage.

  I said we do better than most, but some friction points continue to flare up.

  Oars vs. Motors - you thought we’d dealt with this in the ‘70’s? So did I. Yet there is a resurgence of some oar groups’ boatier-than-thou attitudes towards motors, a rudeness toward motor trips, a shunning of motor boatmen. It’s unprofessional, it’s counterproductive, and it’s inexcusable.

  Commercial vs. Private - Even this year there are reports of commercial boatmen pulling fast ones on privates, taking all the good spots and to hell with them. At the same time we hear of private trips with a blatant anti-commercial agenda, going out of their way to interpret us as evil. Who gains by this?

  Guides vs. Park - This is almost a tradition, with the sides viewing each other as hooligans vs. gestapo. Some folks on each side dug in pretty deep. Very productive, eh?

   Okay, sure, everybody can think of a few stories to back up any attitude they may have. Face it: some of the motor guys are jerks. Some of the oar guys are jerks. Some of the NPS guys are jerks. Some of the privates are jerks. Sometimes I’m a jerk. So are you. So what? Welcome to the planet.

   Then there’s reputations - every entity, every company, every constituency eventually gets a reputation, good, bad or ugly. But times, personnel and attitudes change; whereas reputations linger, get outdated and fester. And we all know it’s a hundred times easier to make a good reputation go bad than vice versa.

   We’re all in the same boat and we’ve all got to paddle. If I get mad at someone else, does it help me to hit him with my paddle? Or paddle backwards? Or call him unspeakable things? Or just give up? No. We’ll all miss the run and still all have to get back in the same boat again tomorrow. Better to paddle a little harder in a positive direction.

   If someone or some group is consistantly out of line, address it. Confront it. Don’t mutter and grumble. Self righteousness is utterly useless.

   If you’ve lost all your friends down there, wake up. Pay attention. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

   Consistantly, repeatedly wipe the slate clean. Carrying a chip on your shoulder makes you walk funny.

   The fact is there’s folks in every category that shine like pearls. The fact is we’re all damned lucky to work here and play here. We all need to search ourselves now and then. Forget the arrogance. Dump the animosity. Take a few aspirin; it thins the blood and reduces swelling. It’s antiinflamatory.

   Git along.

Brad Dimock