Water, Water, Everywhere

This morning, I came across this thought from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hays: “A new day has dawned, and with it come fresh challenges to grow more mindful of you and of the web that unites me with all life.”

With the catastrophic flooding that has been occurring in the Midwestern United States the past couple of weeks, it occurs to me that perhaps water is the web that unites us with all life. After all, water makes up 83% of our blood, 70% of our brain, and 90% of our lungs; overall, our bodies are about 70% water. Thus, being composed mainly of water is a commonality that all humans share.

In the city where I live, Atchison, Ks., we were instructed to boil water before using it for four days last week, which brought us into solidarity with the 780 million people across the globe who lack access to clean water. Globally, 90% of all natural disasters worldwide are water-related, and thus the flooding we have experienced unites us with others across the world who have their lives threatened and disrupted by floods, landslides, tsunamis, storms, heat waves, cold spells, droughts, and waterborne disease outbreaks. The web of water reminds us that we are all one in our experiences, our needs, and our very being.

The order to boil our water for several days was a startling reminder not to take clean water for granted and to be thankful for this gift. It was a “doorway to awakening,” as Christine Valtners Paintner observes in her poem, “Cup”:

this doorway to awakening,

cup, bowl, basin, bath.

Our lives are filled with vessels

that save us each day.