GULP: A drink please for the apologist parent
Day six of the boil water advisory over here has me reflective. Ever since the advent of my second child I have had a few blog thoughts half languishing in draftsville. Funnily, this has brought them together into this glass half full rant.
It has been pretty stressful for me to keep things clean enough without decent water supplies. Admittedly, with my second child I am a bit more flexible about things but I wish I had all the water I want for them today. Like I did last week. Last week when we were soaked in the stuff and people deigned to complain about rain. This world knows plenty of mothers that have the worries we've had in these past 6 days to much greater degrees.
As a duck-like West Coaster I just can't imagine life without clean water. Until now.
I only wish this wasn't just my kids' first... but also the last time they would have to deal with it. But it's seems unlikely. With everyone, and their dog -- literally -- turning a blind eye to drink bottled water who cares if world water supplies stay fresh? With this issue buried among the 10,000 leagues of environmental fuck-ups this world has to offer, is this the future? Their future?
I realized recently that I need to love my children in a way different from how my parents did me. Love them with some fear of them instead of putting fear in them. They need some kinda guts to move ahead in this world. I live with them offering some measured reverence and with what I'll call maximum cherish whenever appropriate/possible.
As I hope you know I am no permissive marshmallow but, still, something in me has spawned an aplogist parent. Being third generation 'you got it so much better than me' is not in the cards of my parenting deck. My kids may not walk uphill both ways to school like the p-man and I did but they have their challenges. (Us among them, but you also know that.) Where we have made our way into the mid-thirties untroubled by melting glaciers and dwindling water supplies this is no longer a privilege reserved for our brothers and sisters in Africa or South East Asia.
posted by mo-wo at 3:39 p.m.
3 Comments:
I had this thought throughout this past summer, as the heat and humidity made Toronto tropical - that the future looks challenging for our children, and certainly for their children. Perhaps not Mad Max challenging, but then again...?
Yes, yes, yes. With sorrow and trepidation, yes.
We had the warmest winter in 2005 that I'd seen in the 13 years I've lived in the San Joaquin valley. We never once hit freezing.
Will be interesting to see what happens this year. The summer hit records for consistent extreme heat.
You don't have to convince me. I'm a believer.
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