For all who are thirsty

With a fairly open agenda last Saturday, I traversed down to Sara Roosevelt Park in the Lower East Side to see if I could stumble upon a pickup soccer game.  After watching for the better part of an hour, I finally got on a field for the first time in Manhattan - a caged field in between a city block, but complete with FieldTurf, goals, and enough space to play 6 a side.  Except for a few touches at a UNC alumni weekend last fall, I hadn’t touched a soccer ball for almost 9 months - perhaps the longest stretch I’ve gone without hitting a pitch since I could walk.

Needless to say, it was refreshing to be back on the field.  So refreshing, in fact, that I lost all track of time and before I knew it I was the little boy who was still playing outside with his friends long after he was supposed to be home for dinner.

It wasn’t until I got on the subway to rush home that reality set in, thanks in large part to the soreness that was already creeping into my calves -  a sad and not so gentle reminder that 27 is much closer to over the hill than I like to admit.  On top of the pain, I realized I was maddeningly thirsty.  I hadn’t had a drop of water in the more than two hours of playing.

Thankfully I remembered the water bottle Tracy made me pack.Unfortunately, it was a water bottle that had spent the whole afternoon in a backpack along with a pair of shoes and a dirty old ball.  I wasn’t even halfway through my first swig when I realized this water, through some magical feat of osmosis, tasted like no other water I had ever encountered.

In short, it tasted like shoe.

At least that’s the first thought that crossed my mind as the half swig made its way through my system.  I hated that water at that moment.  It was truly awful water.

Wow.  Awful water.  My own pride and selfishness smacked me upside the head as I thought of my “terrible” plight.  You see, just the day before I watched the video below.

The video was put together by charity:water for World Water Day.  The facts shown about Central Africa are so stark, you wish they weren’t real.

• Life Expectancy: 39 years
• 85% of population without drinking water
• Unsafe water and sanitation causes 80% of all sickness and disease

charity:water is a non-profit based here in NYC that is focused on helping to solve the problem of unclean drinking water.  I love their approach - “progress must be sustainable” - which is why they focus on drilling wells and teaching Africans how to manage the wells.  One well can provide clean water for 400 people for 20 years.  It’s a fantastic mission, and our good friend Ashley Merritt is interning there for a few months.  They’re always raising money to help the cause, so if you’re interested in helping out, you can do so here.

Even if you don’t have a few bucks to spare right now, perhaps this is a good reminder for you as it was for me of just how lucky we are to have count basic necessities as a given.  It’s a sobering thought.

Perhaps shoe water isn’t that bad after all.