While driving to a work-related meeting today, I caught an NPR story detailing the horrors resulting from the lack of clean water in Pakistan due mainly to sewage problems. The whole account really sent a pain through my heart as I listened to stories about babies either sick with diarrhea or worse yet were dying. Their mothers or doctors were helpless and could only let the babies cry. I reflected on the clean cool water I filled up my water bottle with a little earlier at work that morning and how I was driving through streets absent of any smell or visual due to waste issues. I also for a brief moment recalled that my husband and I owe a *&%*load of taxes this year, but dismissed the thought rather quickly as suddenly it seemed so trivial and unimportant. There were people in this world that didn’t have access to clean water and little babies were suffering and mothers were powerless to comfort them! I lived in a country where at least some of my tax money benefits the public good through public health initiatives like clean water and proper sanitation. I thought of my angelic little nephew David and how he was about the same age as the demographic in this story and how any bit of discomfort he ever had was quickly tended to by a family member mainly because we are so blessed to live in such a land of plenty.
Oh yeah, I know there is a real disproportion in how wealth is divided in this country and I don’t deny that or think we should not work to make more opportunity available and call those on their crap who chant the capitalist mantra of competition and personal responsibility except when it applies to them. Reminds me of Vidal Gore’s famous quote about capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich, but I digress so back to the topic at hand. I know we all get really caught up in the miserable state of our economy, the bleak job market, and how everything keeps going up, up, up except for our paychecks, but we really do have it pretty good for the most part. If you’re reading this blog, you probably are not out there scrounging for the basics like clean water, food, and shelter. Yes, I know there are other problems we all have, but most of us have the necessities down pretty good and could move in with family or friends if worse came to worse.
As painful as it is to hear stories like this, it really does me good and often comes right about the time I’m lamenting over something trivial like dreading a trip to the post office to buy stamps. I think it’s important to acknowledge just how fortunate we all are to live in a country where clean water is available. If this were not the case, we wouldn’t even have the opportunity to be self absorbed and worry about things like our careers and the values of our retirement accounts. So, today I will be thankful for clean water and for the health that it provides me, because when I have health, I have energy to tackle life head on and spend time doing the things I enjoy. I know a lot of people are having a hard time right now, and I can relate because I have a job layoff date which is getting closer and closer, but let’s spend some time being grateful. Grateful for the health and vitality that clean water brings, because can you imagine the state of your life without this very simple need? Luckily most of us don’t have to.
Follow Me
Agua!
May 19th, 2009 . Posted in CommentaryNo Comments »While driving to a work-related meeting today, I caught an NPR story detailing the horrors resulting from the lack of clean water in Pakistan due mainly to sewage problems. The whole account really sent a pain through my heart as I listened to stories about babies either sick with diarrhea or worse yet were dying. Their mothers or doctors were helpless and could only let the babies cry. I reflected on the clean cool water I filled up my water bottle with a little earlier at work that morning and how I was driving through streets absent of any smell or visual due to waste issues. I also for a brief moment recalled that my husband and I owe a *&%*load of taxes this year, but dismissed the thought rather quickly as suddenly it seemed so trivial and unimportant. There were people in this world that didn’t have access to clean water and little babies were suffering and mothers were powerless to comfort them! I lived in a country where at least some of my tax money benefits the public good through public health initiatives like clean water and proper sanitation. I thought of my angelic little nephew David and how he was about the same age as the demographic in this story and how any bit of discomfort he ever had was quickly tended to by a family member mainly because we are so blessed to live in such a land of plenty.
Oh yeah, I know there is a real disproportion in how wealth is divided in this country and I don’t deny that or think we should not work to make more opportunity available and call those on their crap who chant the capitalist mantra of competition and personal responsibility except when it applies to them. Reminds me of Vidal Gore’s famous quote about capitalism for the poor and socialism for the rich, but I digress so back to the topic at hand. I know we all get really caught up in the miserable state of our economy, the bleak job market, and how everything keeps going up, up, up except for our paychecks, but we really do have it pretty good for the most part. If you’re reading this blog, you probably are not out there scrounging for the basics like clean water, food, and shelter. Yes, I know there are other problems we all have, but most of us have the necessities down pretty good and could move in with family or friends if worse came to worse.
As painful as it is to hear stories like this, it really does me good and often comes right about the time I’m lamenting over something trivial like dreading a trip to the post office to buy stamps. I think it’s important to acknowledge just how fortunate we all are to live in a country where clean water is available. If this were not the case, we wouldn’t even have the opportunity to be self absorbed and worry about things like our careers and the values of our retirement accounts. So, today I will be thankful for clean water and for the health that it provides me, because when I have health, I have energy to tackle life head on and spend time doing the things I enjoy. I know a lot of people are having a hard time right now, and I can relate because I have a job layoff date which is getting closer and closer, but let’s spend some time being grateful. Grateful for the health and vitality that clean water brings, because can you imagine the state of your life without this very simple need? Luckily most of us don’t have to.