Perspective.
I am guilty of getting very caught up in how bad we have it. There is a constant assault on my right to keep and bear arms. I live in a nation of lazy, cowardly countrymen, who would send bureaucrats wielding coercive power to make sure my fence isn’t too tall instead of just knocking on my door to talk about it. The federal government is doing its level best to tank the economy, stifle production, and ’save’ us with socialized healthcare.
It’s easy to see all that, and forget the bigger picture.
The other day, I bought an inflatable kiddie pool. It was about 6′ across and 16″ deep. I had it nearly filled before realizing there was a hole in it. It didn’t come with a patch kit, and it was just a cheap pool anyway, so I dumped the water out so I could take it back to the store.
As I did so, I realized I had just poured more clean, cool, drinkable water onto the lawn – in a matter of a few seconds – than some people see in a year. I have the luxury of turning on a spigot, and out comes perfectly safe water. I don’t have to ration it, I don’t have to save it. Sometimes I am even guilty of taking long showers and leaving the faucet on while I brush my teeth.
The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until at least two. I’m a big proponent of breastfeeding, so I think this recommendation is great. The reason for it, however, is largely due to the fact that so many peope in the third world lack access to clean drinking water. It is much safer for toddlers to continue nursing than to drink the available water. Can you imagine breastfeeding literally being a safety issue, a protection against toxicity and contamination? And I’m not talking about the better-than-formula kind of safety, I’m talking about the-water-might-kill-you kind of safety.
We need to buy a new Brita filter, because our old one broke and the water here tastes a little funny. That’s how good we have it – we have the luxury of discriminating over how our water tastes.
Anyway, I don’t mean to suggest that our political struggles aren’t important. They are. They’re crucial, in my opinion, to ensuring western civilization remains first-world. To ensuring we don’t have to worry about where our daily hydration comes from. But, I think it is important to remember that we at least have roofs over our heads, food in our bellies, and cold water to drink while we fight the good fight.
“See? See, comrades? See how bad America is?”
“How can it be bad, if the poor there are fat?”
Laurel, as always, well written, well said!
You should consider upgrading to Berkey water filter instead of your brita. It filter out alot more of the normal stuff, plus a variety of bacteria, heavy metals, and organics. It costs more to start with, but over the long run, it actually costs less due to the long life of the filters. Makes the water taste better and can purify water in emergency situations.
My 80-something year old Aunt in England was advised by her Doctor during her pregnancy (way-back-when) to drink a glass of Guinness each day. How times have changed! Having lived overseas as a child in Asia I can directly see how breastfeeding can be a guard against some toxicity and contamination – but other sanitation problems still kills a lot of kids, and stuff like Malaria too, which we seldom worry about.