voltaire1729 wrote:
<<"Name the
interstate highway that goes through these three cities" is
no more or less lame than "Name
the biggest
river in these African countries
...".>>
To a point, I can see how this might make sense.
Some roads have been significant. The Via Appia comes
to mind, as does the great Silk Road; holy Mecca, in
the middle of the inhospitable desert, was founded as
the crossroads of two great trade routes.
Ever
been to Breezewood, Pa.?
But rivers are
symbolic. Rivers are central. Rivers are mythic. From the
Bible, through the Emperor Tiberius, through Lenin, to
the Kinks, rivers have, the Great Material River
binds all things.
To stop or tame a river is a
feat of engineering. Any idiot in a Kia can block a
freeway. And often they do.
The Nile, the Indus,
the Yellow and Yangtze Kiang, these all flow through
the hearts of our race's first civilizations. In
their floods, they raised the bricks of Babylon, the
pyramids of Egypt, and the very empire of China.
If
there's a civilization elevated to great heights of
achievement by the rush-hour traffic jams on I-66, I don't
want to know about it.
Edmund