Bridges

Bridges

http://www.bridgesdb.com/bridge-history-facts/historical-development-of-bridges/

Bridges - a way to get across a stream or a valley.  If you go back far enough, the first bridges were considered to be logs across a stream.  The logs may have just been a tree that fell over the stream and that people used to cross the stream.  

Maybe the second way that ancient man used to cross streams was by “fords” - where the streams were not too deep, and horses and wagons could drop the shallow stream.  (Some American towns end in “Ford” - Hartford, Chelmsford, Stanford, Bedform, and others.)

Bridges are important.  For example last year in Nebraska a town had the bridge connecting it to the next major town washed away in a flood.  In that rural area, the absence of a bridge added about an hour for people who wanted to go to the other town. Even people just south of the town - and just south of the bridge and river added an hour to their commute to school and work.   Bridges are expensive and in rural areas, building a lot of bridges was prohibited and thus not so many bridges were built.  

In urban areas major bridges were built, such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City.  

In warfare, knocking out an enemy bridge might make it harder to get supplies to the soldiers.  

We can also have communication bridges.  For example, different communications companies put underground communications cables so that one can call English friends from the United States.  

Bridges open commerce and communications.  Likewise, verbal bridges can open commerce and communications.  We use the internet as a type of a communication bridge, where physically we are not really in New York City, but we can talk and even see friends from that city.  

But, when bridges are down, commerce and communications become difficult.  Like the Nebraska city where the bridge was wiped out, finding another alternate method to get south of the town became an extra-long trip.  

Thinking about bridges washing out, the floodwaters are high and fast.  Like the Grand Canyon, where the Colorado River etched out the deep valleys, floodwaters can eat away river banks and can eat under the bridge supports.  In rural areas, the waters can take out the roads leading to the bridges and then the bridge supports and in a few hours, the bridge is not supported. I’ve seen videos of bridges floating down rivers.  Eventually, those floating bridges run into other bridges or get stuck on sand bars and become nuisances. Engineers might have to set charges on the bridge to blow it up - and into manageable pieces. It might even mean that heavy-duty helicopters might have to airlift pieces of debris out of the rivers to help the situation.

Now, this isn’t just about bridges (of course), but there are times when communication erodes and eats away at our support.  Our bridges (that is, communications) stop being bridges and become problems. Sometimes those problems are bigger than the original bridge.  The communications have stopped and maybe blocking the channel or bumping into other bridges. Some people might even start gossiping behind the scenes - almost like a bridge disrupting another bridge as it careens downstream.  

Repairing a bridge can be expensive.  Rebuilding the bridge supports takes time and money.  In some rural areas, money for a new bridge probably isn’t in the budget, so other items lose their funding so the bridge can be built.  

Likewise, it can be hard to rebuild relationships that have lost their moorings.  Learning to trust one another can be difficult. Saying “I’m sorry” can be difficult; Saying “I was wrong” can be difficult; saying “Can you forgive me” can be difficult.  

All states and counties do have bridge inspections.  Inspectors come by and check the stability of bridges in case of flood or just wearing out.  The expression “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Maybe we (1) need to watch our communication bridges more; (2) inspect and maintain communications as a higher priority.    I know I have broken some communication links with friends and I am sorry, and I was wrong, and I seek your forgiveness!!!

Hugs!!

Karen