My wife and I live on the Saint Lucie River in Stuart. We own a boat, but I am not much of a boater. I have a few poles, but I really don’t fish. In fact, I am not a recreational water person. However, I live on the river because I am mesmerized by its currents and flows.  The sheer majesty of the river at times takes my breath away while at other times it relaxes and soothes.

Water is a powerful force of nature. It shapes the shore where it runs. The river nourishes not only ecosystems of plants, fish and birds but also the human soul. It takes us on journeys of the imagination. Close your eyes and let the mind drift on its currents. The water in the Saint Lucie is connected to the lagoon and then to the oceans throughout our planet and eventually back to us.

I had a country place on the east branch of the Delaware River. Just like the Saint Lucie, water was controlled by a series of gates. But that is where the similarities end. The gates on the Delaware held back the water from winter snows.  There were no chemical pollutants from farms and septic systems as exist currently in Lake Okeechobee. Water released from the Delaware was clean. It was fresh water into fresh water. My kids swam and fished and played in the river. We all gazed at the deer drinking in the evening, an osprey searching the water for dinner or even the occasional bear trudging along the banks in fall.

But now a bit older, I have chosen to live here on this river. We all mouth the correct words and attend meetings. Politicians continue to tell us what we want to hear, and the blame and the promises continue. But our river is still abused today as it has been since it was connected to Lake “O” 80 years ago.

Yet it is a magnificent sight to see the sunset against the water. A peaceful daydream can still be had by gazing at the Saint Lucie from my back porch. Perhaps it really will someday be devoid of life. All the birds, dolphins and manatees will cease to be part of the scene. But the river will still flow… only with the detritus and sewage of man.