For those of you who live in 90, Stayer, Vandy, Walsh, Edmonds, eat in lower, and/or spend time in Robsham, I’m sure you know exactly what I am about to talk about. For those of you who have no idea what is going on, I’ll fill you in.
On Friday, Feb. 19, the aforementioned residential halls, dining hall, and theater had no running water for about seven and a half hours. This was a situation most of us, including myself, had never experienced before. And boy, what an experience it was.
No water? What did that even mean? It meant no working faucets, no working showers, and no working toilets. Using the restroom during this time period was no longer a sanitary privilege. What?! It so worked out that I had plans to celebrate my friend’s birthday off campus, so we had the luxury of running water a few hours before our fellow Eagles back in Chestnut Hill.
This was such an outstanding situation to me that I took to texting my mother about it in the early afternoon. Her response felt like a swift removal of a veil representing something many of us try to disown: privilege. The first thing she said was, “Welcome to apartment living.” I thought to myself, “…Yikes,” and responded to her with, “How are people supposed to deal with that on a regular basis?” to which she said, “And that is the first lesson to how debilitating a life of poverty actually is.”
Privilege (n.) - a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
I don’t know about you, but I believe running and fresh water among many other things is a right, but evidence from what is going on throughout the world and this country (Flint, Michigan—look it up) is telling me this is, in fact, a privilege. Why?
This isn’t a call to drop what you’re doing and fix this water crisis, but it is a request that you start being aware of things like this. I am guilty of living in a world where it never really dawned on me that people don’t have such ready access to water. I had read about it and heard people talk about it, but it felt rather distant from me. I find it sad that it took experiencing a water outage for me to really understand the issue, but it is the truth.
As a very good friend of mine said this week, “If you want to see poverty, you don’t have to cross an ocean. It exists right here in this country.” These words are devastatingly true and should not be taken lightly, as this is not a light topic. I have noticed that many Americans try to look the other way towards far away lands when in search of the presence of poverty. It exists all in our own backyard and has such an overwhelming presence that I wonder why it is hardly ever covered.
If it takes a village to raise a child, it will take the world to raise the impoverished out of poverty. It may seem like a daunting task, but if everyone does their part, this vision can transition into our reality. I encourage all of you to dedicate at least a portion of your life to helping rebuild a system that has failed a numerous amount of people. In the words of Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” It is one thing to sit around and talk about it in a classroom, dining hall, conference room, and other spaces alike, but it is an entirely different significantly more impactful thing to actually do something about it. So do something about it.
The water shortage and my mother’s words are now among the first things I think about when I find something new to complain about. My headphones may be broken or my Chapstick may be used up, but I have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, clean air to breathe, and fresh water to drink. I hope that this also serves as a reminder to you not only to be aware of what else is going on around the world, but to be grateful for all of the luxuries we consider common that way too many people go without and may never get to experience.
