Dryxanne’s Confessions

"That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

(Neil Armstrong)

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Last night, suddenly this line rings in my head. I don’t know what triggered me, perhaps the event of me turning on the water faucet and watching the water run. It just suddenly reminded me of one episode in OPRAH recently, the one that discussed about vast effects of global warming  and its causes and how we can help to reduce the effects by just doing one of several simple acts everyday.

Like don’t let the water run when you don’t need it. Many times when we brush teeth, or wash our hands, we turn on the faucet and let the water just run. Without even thinking that when calculated with millions and billions of people who do the same, tons of gallons of water are wasted everyday, without necessary cause. While millions in Africa are dying from lack of clean, hygienic water.

I admit that I’m being hypocrite here, because honestly, while I don’t let water run like that and try my best to use water efficiently, I still fail at some points. Like, I can’t sit on my toilet and spend 10-15 minutes pooping without flushing at least 5 times. And spraying water at a countless times to clean up myself in between the flushing times. Pardon my honesty describing these things I do that may make you feel disgusted (or even shocked that I’d share this private habit here publicly in this blog).

But at least, I’m trying to reduce the habit, and I always turn off the water faucet when I’m not using the water. So, it is painful to see other people being so ignorant about it. Just like when I see some people in my office ignoring the running water from one of the press faucet in the restroom that is not functioning properly, causing the water to keep running long after the person who uses it has left the restroom already. It is a bit forcing, but it could actually be stopped by turning the faucet fast left and right a few times. Thus saving the water from running unused.

These simple things we could do, yet we are so ignorant to do. On the thought that we don’t pay for it, or it’s already been calculated inside the office rental cost.

I read somewhere that says people who think like that, they only consider the current moments. They don’t think about what will happen in the coming 10, 20 or 30 years. When we tell them that it’s our descendants that will suffer and live with the results of what we are doing today, some of them will even have the guts to say that they won’t care, because it’s in the (uncertain) future, and by then they are probably dead anyway, so why bother?

Isn’t that the most irresponsible way of thinking?

I’ll let you to decide.

So what’s the connection of Neil Armstrong’s infamous quote with the content of this post?

I was just thinking that his quote is also applicable to what’s going on now. What seems to be small step for a man, can mean a giant step to mankind. Saving a little bit of water by turning off the faucet when not in used, can mean saving tons of gallons of water through out the planet. Thus, might help to stop human existence from extinction one day. We never know, but if we know something we can do that might help, why won’t we?

It takes not millions of people to start doing it together. Anyone of us can start anytime, and spread the habit to people around us. It takes time, but with strong will, it will spread until everyone does it. Let’s just hope that it’s not too late yet.

We live in a planet that is growing older everyday, getting more exhausted by hours, and running out of resources by minutes passed by. And we still live like everything’s gonna last forever, like everything will be provided endlessly. We live in an already sick and dying planet, yet we live like we have another destination to go to, incase this planet collapses and we can’t live in it anymore.

While in fact, we are not going anywhere. We are staying here, we are stuck here for another 50 years perhaps, or even more. And we are killing the only place we are able to be living in.