The half of the trip

21/03/2022 Nilson Lattari

I arrived on time to get on the boat that was waiting for me on the riverbank. The other bank was distant and invisible. It was in the infinite but I wasn’t concerned about this. The boatman didn’t seem to be impatient with the trip. Then, when I sat on the boat, the boatman adjusted the oars and our trip started, silently.
At the beginning of the trip everything was new. Everything was fantastic but the boatman worked in silence, concentrated on his task. After some minutes, I was excited to know everything. I asked him if we could take of advantage the trip to enjoy travelling through the river. And if it would be possible to stop the journey, sometimes, to admire the scenery.
He didn’t smile at me and didn’t express any emotion. He rowed and kept the boat stared at the other bank, unalterable.
– Can we enjoy the journey and extend it more? Can we enjoy the movement of the water after the turbulence that happened at the beginning of the trip?
He kept the regularity of the oars and he told me that he was in charge of the boat and his function was only to arrive at the other bank, excluding another possibility.
At first, the boat was erratic because the passenger was immature and walked in the boat looking for the best place to enjoy the trip.
Sometimes, the boat seemed to be out of the aim. It seemed to follow the river flow but it was an illusion. The boatman has never lost his control. He was focused to reach his mission. He had decided to manage the trip: cross the river flow and the speed of the boat wasn’t important and what could happen with the movement of the water.
We were distant from the riverbank from where we came, and the river was calm and quiet. The water seemed immobile.
– Are we halfway through the trip? I asked the boatman. He didn’t say anything. He only pointed to the other side with his finger.
The water was flowing calmly. The river was the same, only the boatman and his passenger were more friendly. They didn’t seem to disagree with each other. The passenger gave up to interfere in the boatman’s work and the boatman didn’t interfere in the passenger’s thoughts. They were together and both were trying to complete the trip.
Different from the beginning of the trip, now the passenger didn’t ask anything: about the time, about the trip because he realized that the boatman didn’t like to talk. Are we in the half of the river, consequently, in the half of the trip? If they have travelled fifty percent of the trip, it would lack fifty percent to the end? Who knows? Only the boatman could know it.
The passenger sat on the boat and it seemed that the other bank was distant because it was still invisible. The passenger decided to stand up and tried to guess how long he was there, travelling. The boatman didn’t bother with his behaviour.
Why stand up all the time and try to guess how long is lacking until the end? The most important is sitting on the boat to admire the scenery ahead. At that moment, in the middle of the river the passenger could see the other bank. The time passed, and its memories got accumulated. The rest of the time was reserved to sail and the trip turned into a wonderful and terrific interrogation.
Some of the passengers abandon their boats, in the middle of the trip. Some of them swim to try to reach the other bank after the time. They imagine if they will arrive before the boatman, they can see the end of the trip before everybody.
But others left the boatman managing the trip and tried to focus on the boat, to make it the most comfortable place to travel, and take care of it without surprises.
Who knows where is the half of the trip? Where is the half of imagination?
We can find adventures and adversities in life. It is fast, constantly, and time goes on until we reach the other bank. If we don’t know the width of the river and the distance to the other side, we have to overcome it, it will be a risk to try to guess the half of the trip.
Because of this, fifty, sixty years or more it will be always the middle. The most important is to delight the trip. The boatman is responsible for the time.