This Side of the Mountain

This Side of the Mountain Sidney Saylor Farr If the Creeks Don't Rise . . . In the Appalachian mountains it used to be that promises were kept. A person's word was a bond. Ifa promise was made you could count on the fact tiiat nothing except death would keep it from being fulfilled. However , there could be extenuating circumstances, and people worked those into their verbal agreements. Father and Grandfather would say, "Ifthe Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise ..." Sadly enough, down through the years a man's (or woman's) word has become so watered down with extenuating eventualities that it does not have the same meaning. Today people will promise you anything, but it seems that they never remember from one day to the next the promises they have made. However, there are people in the mountains who still keep their promises; I include myselfamong them. I believe that giving my word creates a bond between other people and me. IfI tell you that I will do something or be somewhere at a certain time, I will be there. IfI see that I can't I will let you know. I will crawl ifI have to in order to let you know. I attribute this trait to my mountain upbringing. What I treasure most in my memories of Jim Wayne Miller is the fact that if he promised you to be somewhere, or do something, you could count on it being done! Jim Wayne Miller was a shining light for many people, and that bright light went out of our universe a year ago. We are trying to find our way without it. I remember how my mother would say, when something out of the ordinary happened, "Well children, it was so ordered ..." When I got older, I understood that she meant it was God's will. I remembered Mother's "It was so ordered" when I heard Jim Wayne had died. And that memory was a comfort. I love the images that arise when I hear the phrase "Ifthe Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise," because, literally, it means, "I will do this unless we have a big flood and the roads become impassable, or it is not God's Will." ...