The will of the River Analysis

“If you cannot overcome an obstacle, you can undercome it.”

- Alfredo Q. GonzalesThe
“Will of a River” by Alfredo Q. Gonzales, talks about as what is seen in
the title, the river. Thatriver is likened to a person’s life. First, it
talks about the obstacles that the river encounters as it flows
towards the ocean. Second it speaks of the determination of the river
to reach its end which is again
the ocean. Third is, how the river do it’s purpose or responsibility.
How does that relate to the life of a person? Firstly, it shows that it is
an undeniable fact that thereare many trials, problems and difficulties
that one encounters in life. Sometimes these circumstancesare
considered to be negative. There are many hindrances and obstacles
that one faces in life. How arethey dealt with? The person must have
patience and endurance to hurdle testings and even adversariesin life.
There are those who easily get dismayed and discouraged. They
surrender oreven retreat, but there are those who persevere and do
not easily lose hope, like the river.Secondly, it also speaks of
determination to reach the goals of life. If we cannot overcome
theobstacles, we can undercome them as aptly expressed by the
author. Have the optimism to reach yourgoal and possess an outlook in
life not in pessimism but in hope. You have that optimism to reach
yourgoal and your outlook in life must not be one in pessimism but of
hope. When we experience hardshipsin life or when things get rough,
we must not quit. Just stick to the fight. And last One has to live hislife
faithfully and be a blessing to others. This is why the river exists.
Without doubt this is the noblereason for our existence on earth. You
are not just living for your self but you live firstly for God andfor other
people, as well. . If nature, like the river, which we consider devoid of
feelings or emotions,fulfills its duty rightfully, how much more for man
who was created by God in His own image withemotions, will, and
intellect? One must consider his responsibility to others and must
solemnly see theneed to care and have compassion for others.The
source of our motivation comes from none other than, our Creator
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WILL
OF THE RIVER BY: ALFREDO Q.
GONZALES JR.
In nature, there are strange occurrences that are worth comparing
with the human life cycle. It may be the pleasant or it may be the
displeasing. The droughts, typhoons, calamities, snow, rains and
even hail storms. All of the same, all of them have their own cycles
just like all our lives. Their reasons for happening are irrevocable,
even to knowledge’s we attain. We cannot go against nor fight it.
Those may have been triggered them to make humanity elated in
awesomeness or cry in fear and agony. Especially in the modern
world, where many care less about this little big encounters with
Mother Nature, seldom does even reflect about. One of the few is
Alfredo Q. Gonsalez Jr.
Mr. Gonsalez wrote an essay entitled the Will of the River. In his
essay, he talked about his encounter with the river named Bacong.
It was his yearly ritual to trace the river’s source in the neighboring
hills whenever he gets the chance to visit his wife’s ancestral home
which stood beside it. One mystical summer, a strange occurrence
was observed, with the company of his elder son and a student
friend, they followed the path of the river which was undeniably
beyond dry that season.
The river was especially dry that April. Not like the years before,
Bacong was hot and dry that no single drop of water was seen. Even
in the past half a mile from the sea the river should be flowing in its
normal depth but it was not. They therefore pursued their way
downhill for kilometers and saw the stream. Finally. By that time, he
realized something. The river never lost its will and it did not forfeit
its mission to reach the sea. It didn’t lose hope and found another
way to escape the harsh climate by tunneling its way under its
sandy bed. Intelligently choosing a more compact, lower stratum to
pass through until its visible again. Flowing its way to the great sea.
It’s funny how the world is constant reminder of how we should live
our lives. As it is, it is a hot pot of allegorical metaphors waiting for
us to realize that even the simplest things can make magnanimous
impacts; the same thing that we often times ignore or even take for
granted and because of this, we tend to falter.
However, humans as we are, we were created with a light within us
that would more likely guide us back to the path we need to take so
that our lives, just like the river, goes on. Reading the essay ignited
my thoughts. A leap of faith has been known to have changed lives,
heal broken hearts and right wrongs. The world might have been
simpler than we thought. Maybe all we need is a reminder. The story
proved its worth, not only does it remind us of our passion for our
work, but also our faith.
People have struggled to find out who they are, and what their
purpose is. And when each of us find that we are at a dead end,
then we are no different from the river that runs dry or a pond that
has nowhere to go. But when strife is present, God manages to show
us that He is greater; filling the empty rivers with rain, filling
stagnant ponds until they overflow and both find a way to continue
the journeys set out for them. And when the rain does not come,
God allows you to look deep, like a river that continues to flow
underground. Either way, we always find our path. The path that is
set out for us.
Another lesson taught by the dear river Bacong is that
determination only is not enough. People need determination with
aspiration towards their goal to truly have their hands placed on
places they would like to reach. It can be today or can be in the near
or far more future but with one’s desires being decided by that
someone to fulfill nobody can stop it no matter how. But there is an
exemption, not everybody has the chance to finish their course as
what they’ve planned. Like many streams that managed to
surmount barriers they met along the way, yet to end up in a foul
stagnant marsh because of too much labor and strain. The
occurrence is very similar to many human lives. Directly telling us
about how many people in their younger years have determined to
face different challenges and had never thought of failing; however
when they reach their older selves they lose this will to confront and
overcome these disputes given by life.
Despite hindrances that were almost impossible to face head on,
there were individuals who truly bloomed through these hard days
of their lives. One mentioned is Galileo, who gave most contribution
in Anatomy, has continued to work after losing his sight. After the
tragic happening to Beethoven that he lost his hearing ability, he
became one of the most celebrated composers in the Classical era
with his compositions like his Piano Sonatas and Symphonies. There
were Stevenson and Cecil Rhodes who were destines to die created
history for themselves. This reminded the writer that if one cannot
overcome obstacles one can undercome them.
We cannot face all obstacles head on, but one can face them
underground. It is not cowardice. It is in a way that one finds a way
to pass through them with less negative consequences, just like
what the river did. He passed through it under the sandy bed and
had picked a better, safer place to show itself. It was the time that
Bacong was more ready to reach its goal: to be one with the sea. As
for us humans, we do not always need to show the world that we
can do this, we can conquer that. No, that’s not how it always works.
At times we shall have time to hide ourselves and be better
prepared by the time we are near and have our dreams in our hand
so that it will be easier for us to be with it and have less strains in
convincing others that we can do it because we are already there
walking hand in hand with it.
Upon ending the essay, one must already realized their worth. To
have compassion to even just the tiniest thing they do is a test.
Simillar with the river, optimism is the key to success and the
reaching of one’s dreams. Alongside hope everybody else has the
ability to fulfill their mission and enjoy the path their taking. For the
tracks they’re about to face, they shall have the courage and God’s
blessing. To you, to me and to the rest of humanity, God is there to
help; whatever obstacle it may be. Following the river’s footsteps
and great example, we shall accomplish our own duties to the world
not caring of how big or small the interference will be. And we shall
always keep the thought in mind that with perseverance, hope,
optimism and courage, we shall be walking through our path in life
with smiles on our faces and spirits and eyes and heart on our goals.

The Will of the River -Alfredo

Gonzales Jr.
1 BY MY WIFE’S ancestral home flows a river. For a dozen summers I have visited it, and almost every
year I make an effort to trace its course back to its source in the neighboring hills; I do not consider my
vacation there complete without doing this. In common with other streams of its kind, our river suffers
much from the summer drought. I have seen it so shrunken that fish lay lifeless on the parched sand and
gravel of its bed. But this past summer I saw something I had never seen before, though I know that if I
had been sufficiently observant in other abnormally dry years, I am sure I could not have failed to notice
the same thing earlier.
2 One morning last April, in company with a student friend and my elder son. I started out for the hill to
spend the day by the rapids and cascades at a place called Intongasan. We followed the course of the
river. After we had walked a kilometer or more, I saw that the river had disappeared and its bed was dry.
I looked around in wonder because past our little country house below and out toward the sea half a mile
or so farther down, the river was flowing clear and steady in Its usual summer volume and depth. But
where we stood at the moment there was no water to be seen. All about us the wide river bed was hot
and dry.

3 We pursued our way on toward the hills, however, and walking another kilometer we saw the stream
again, though it had spread itself so thin that it was lost at the edge of the waterless stretch of burning
sand and stones. And yet, continuing our way into the hills, we found the river grow deeper and stronger
than it was as it passed by our cottage.

4 To most people, I suppose, there is nothing strange or significant in this. Perhaps they have seen such
a phenomenon more than once before. To me, however, it was a new experience and it impressed me
like all new experiences. To me, it was not merely strange, it suggested a spiritual truth.

5 Flowing down from its cradle in the mountains just as it left the last foothills, the river had been
checked by the long, forbidding stretch of scorching sand. I had read of other streams that upon
encountering similar obstacles irretrievably lost themselves in sand or mud. But Bacong-because that is
the name of our river-determined to reach the sea, tunneled its way, so to speak, under its sandy bed, of
course choosing the harder and lower stratum beneath, until at last it appeared again, limpid and steady
in its march to sea.

6 And then I thought of human life. I was reminded of many a life that stopped short of its great end just
because it lacked the power of will to push through hindrances.

7 But I thought most of all of those who, like our river, met with almost insurmountable obstacles but
undismayed continued their march, buried in obscurity perhaps but resolutely pushing their way to the
sea, to their life’s goal. I thought of men like Galileo, who continued his work long after his sight had
failed; of Beethoven, who composed his noblest and sublimest symphonies when he could no longer hear
a single note; of Stevenson, who produced some of his greatest work after he was doomed to die of
tuberculosis; and of Cecil Rhodes, who was sent to Africa to die of an incurable disease, but before he
obeyed the summons carved out an Empire in the Dark Continent. These resolute and sublime souls all
reminded me of what our river taught me-that if we cannot overcome obstacles, we can undercome
them.

8 Another lesson I learned from Bacong is found in the fact that the river was not merely determined to
flow just anywhere; it was determined to reach the sea, to reach the great end. Many streams manage to
surmount barriers they meet along the way, but they come out of obstacles after much labor only to end
in a foul and stagnant marsh or lake. How like so many human lives! How like so many people who, in
the springtime of their youth and in the summer of their early manhood, showed splendid heroism
against frowning odds, determined to overcome those hostile barriers, only in the autumn of their lives to
end in defeat, disgrace, and remorse.

9 On the other hand, think of other lives that, like our river, kept their way even to the end of their
course.
10 I believe it was on our way back from the hills that the lesson of faithfulness in the performance of
one’s duty was forcefully suggested to me. The truth occurred to me that nature often fulfills her duty
more faithfully than man does his.

11 And what is the duty of a river? It is to furnish safe running water for plant and fish and fowl and for
man and beast. The river is not there just to flow on and enjoy itself. The river must play its part in the
processes of nature; to live, in other words, for the rest of creation.

12 And so it should be with the life of man. It is not to be lived unto itself alone for its own joy and
satisfaction but for others in glad and devoted ministry. How life and beauty and goodness, indeed,
would perish from the world if man and nature should fail in their duty! If our river had not remained
faithful to its duty, instead of a landscape picturesque with the varied green of the foliage of shrubs and
trees and gay with the voices of the birds singing and calling to one another in the branches that April
morning, there would have been spread before us a wide expanse of desolate and lifeless land, fit only
for the wanderings of Cain.

13 For part of the ministering duty of a river is to flow on and on, otherwise be foul and unfit for use.
There is music in running water. Bacong, by continuing its march to the sea, kept itself fit for the service
of nature and man; and not only it expanded its field of usefulness.

14 And does this not suggest that the river of man’s life should be likewise? For if in the face of obstacles
it lacks the strength of will to continue keeping itself fit to serve and seeking new opportunities for
service, it will ultimately become useless to others.

15 As I marveled at the power of Bacong to push its way through such a seemingly impassable barrier, I
discerned the secret-a secret that has a message for all of us. For Bacong was able to carry on, to
continue its watery pilgrimage and reach the immensity and sublimity of the sea, only because its source
is the vast and lofty mountains. Unless a stream draws its power from a source of sufficient height and
magnitude, it cannot do as our river did this summer. It will not have the strength to cut its way through
great obstacles and reach the sea at last. Here is one of the marvelous secrets of live, and how many
have missed it! Verily, if a man derives his strength and inspiration from a low and feeble source, he will
fail to “arrive.” Unless a man draw his power from some source of heavenly altitude, unless the stream of
his life issues from a never-failing source, unless, in other words, his soul is fed from heights of infinite
power, he may well fear that he will not reach the sea. But if his spirit is impelled and nourished by an
inexhaustible power he will in spite of all obstructions, finish his course, if not in the glory of dazzling
achievement, at least in the nobility of a completed task faithfully done.