Living a First World Kinda Life

Those commercials on television show suffering people, typically the children, who are in need of a decent meal, clothes, proper hydration, & much more, they're children in Third World countries & we (definitely me!) are living in First World countries.

Not too much time ago much was on our minds as at-that-time-recent headlines had been discussing proper restroom options for everyone, even those who don't consider themselves to be either female or male, as most commercial location restrooms are marked for one or the other. And a meme began floating around (proper terminology: getting shared around) about how these folks in the Third World would just like a restroom in general.

It got me thinking about how many locations have "family" restrooms which are set up similar to what would be found in most any house. (I'd like to say "all houses", though the absolution seems squint-worthy.) These family-style restrooms seem to eliminate the "his" & "hers" commercial location-type restroom predicament. Although, it is true, any of these folks living in Third World countries would be quite content just to have any old restroom/bathroom to use.

So would a runner. That is, a runner who's participating in an event. At events, volunteers & participants alike are reduced to standing in long lines at a strip of port-a-johns. Sometimes runners don't even have a chance to get to a port-a-john, & simply step aside & sort of hide-away. (Run a search on it; there's tons of articles on best eloquence for this action.)

Then there are the construction workers. Another group of folks regularly visiting their local port-a-john. These workers also "brown bag" it. Though I'm guessing they really "hard-sided-cooler" (like these) it more than not. Their work is labor intensive & their hardy replenishment suits best in something a bit more solid than an ordinary "brown bag". (Really, what do I know; there's likely to be some who do use an actual brown bag, & regularly. 😁)

Restrooms/bathrooms, food & food storage, & hydration, specifically water purification. That's right, this stuff. Some must boil theirs regularly. Many people don't even give their plain tap half a chance, they instantly are lining up these & these in so that they might not have anything enter their system which could possibly be harmful. In this movie, Reese's character mentions about boiling & purifying on the go.

I had a phase when flavored water was my thing; I bought this regularly. I've moved on. I do stick with the reusable variety (see here), though I most often also stick with tap water. If it's my tap then I'd attach one of these, the kind that leaves in the fluoride while removing everything else that doesn't belong. I actually prefer my water to be room temperature, otherwise, straight from the tap.

All in all I'm grateful for running water (& all sorts of plumbing 😍); I'm thankful to be living in a First World country (with all of my "First World Problems" 😉), & my appreciation is constantly growing for all that I do have, which is so much more than I'll ever truly realize.



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