Article April 28, 1986 Issue

No generation gaps

BARBARA J. PRESLER

At a family camp we attended a few years ago, my young daughter and I took a canoe trip downriver. My partner in paddling our canoe was a teen-age girl who seemed more interested in socializing with a canoe of her friends next to us than in paddling. When I spoke to her and asked her to help, her responses seemed quite rude. It appeared she didn't have much use for the older generation.

At one point we hit a bend in the river. She cross-ruddered, and the canoe went down a wrong turn over light rapids. Shortly afterward it became wedged against a downed tree. I put one let overboard to push the canoe away from the log, the girl pushed her paddle in side sweeps, and the canoe was forced against the log with my leg caught between the two.

I yelled out in pain, she jumped overboard, tipping the canoe and our gear; and my young daughter, who was our other passenger, had to jump too. The canoe floated downriver a few feet and capsized under a log. As I sank down in the river with the swift current around me, I started praying.

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