There were only four Primal Elements: Air, Water, Fire, Earth. Ancient cultures believed that all things were made from these four. (Nothing to do with the band named Earth, Wind and Fire (1969-now), they left off water from their title!) Can’t live without water! Water is the liquid state of matter. I think we recognize water as the clear wet liquid which we drink, bathe in, cook with, feed animals and plants, harness for power, etc. We can see water in three states: solid=ice, liquid=water and vapor=steam.
Somehow, those ancient beliefs were precursors to chemistry, and influenced concepts of the universe, human health and alchemy for centuries. NOTHING can live without water... Plants wither, people starve, animals die. A human can live three days without water, so it’s VERY important…duh!
A lot of people take water for granted, as it is cheap, free, plentiful, and always there. It does seem that way, that is, until you have to go without water to see the cost. My whole life, there was always an endless supply of water. I never thought much about it until I ACTUALLY MOVED TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY. I lived on a tiny Greek island for 15 years, and there was no water source there. You could not use the salt water of the Aegean. It never rained from May until September. Islanders did have cisterns, but sometimes there were parasites which affected them, so there were special worms put in there to eat algae? For this island, there was a water boat which came once a week to pump water into the water towers. It resembled a giant slippery whale. Later, a metal boat, but still pump it up the mountain, so it would ‘fall’ from sheer gravity. Later, an old oil tanker would be repurposed as a water boat, but we saw oil slicks in our faucet water, not good. And a friend with a cistern showed me tiny black and red worms in her water; she just boiled the hell out of it.
So, once when the seas were rough and the boats could not dock for 10 days… we had no water coming in; actually, nothing came in; no foodstuffs, newspapers, clothes, medicines, nothing at all. It was a real test, how to manage without water. Somehow, you improvised. You learned to conserve every drop. Also consider that water, as well as gasoline, was all imported. I have heard that in dry oil-rich Arab countries, water is more expensive than gasoline? We had a bathtub, and I would bathe both young kids, then wash a rug in it, then water my plants with the gray water. A faucet was never left running wide open. Any leftover waterglass on a table was given to a plant. I truly learned to respect water in a whole new dimension!
So, after 10 days of feeling dusty, I had to take the boat to Athens, the capital. It seems that the famous Georgia Bulldog coach Vince Dooley brought a tour group to Greece, and in that group were two couples from Covington, the Bellairs and the Hoffmans, and I travelled up to see them. I met Vince Dooley, we chatted a bit, I told him about our water dilemma, and bless him, he let me take a quick shower in his room while he was “coaching” the tour group on their itinerary. I’m sure the water was dark gray from me! That was a fantastic gift! I felt reborn!
There was a Japanese book, a New York Times bestseller, entitled “Hidden Messages in Water.” Masaru Emoto believed that water reacted to human words, and he photographed images of water listening to loving, and also unkind words. You should see those images! Consider this… our bodies are about 70% water; the earth is about 70% water. WHY are we not in a symbiotic relationship with each other? “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” W.H. Auden. Lao Tzu (6th century B.C) observed, “nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” Think of the force of Hurricane Katrina, Niagara Falls, tsunamis (can reach CLOSE TO 1,800 FEET HIGH! TALLER THAN THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!) Water is a powerful force which can build or destroy. Water lives in oceans, rivers, lakes, bodies of water, clouds. I have read that all the water that EVER WAS ON EARTH IS STILL HERE, that we are drinking “recycled” water from the dinosaur age. Only 3.5% of Earth’s water is fresh: lakes, rivers, streams, glaciers, groundwater. The rest is salty, 96.5%, mostly the large oceans and seas. Does that mean that the entire world uses that 3.5%? Think about that! Can’t be greedy; and the U.S consistently ranks among the highest per capita consumption, followed by Canada, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Water does so much for our bodies, starting with our blood, plasma is 92% water. Water gets rid of waste, regulates body temperature, helps in digestion, shock absorbs for the brain and spinal cord, hydrates our cells and organs, keeps our skin flexible and much more!
So, drink up, but try to not waste a drop! It’s too precious! Next to the air we breathe, water is probably the most important thing in our lives! So…HONOR the power of H2O!
Carol Veliotis is a local columnist for The Covington News. She can be reached at carol.veliotis@gmail.com.
