Americans have it so good!

Inside city hall, jan. 21, 09

Americans have it so good. We use most of the world’s energy, water, and natural resources. There’s no way to count what we have in the way of the world’s goods. But take away just one of the good things we have and we well let you know about it. I promise.

Like a few weeks ago when our water was off a few hours. And last Saturday when Santa Rosa’s whole system was down. For some that included cell phones. Most of us just didn’t have internet, TV or telephone use.

I was affected like everyone else. I prepared my usual bowl of oatmeal and settled down in front of the tube to watch CSI, one of my favorite programs. All I saw was “This station is temporarily out of order.” That message usually means I have unplugged something. Not this time, Santa Rosa was really down. Well, dang, I can’t watch TV, what to do? What else could I do: I ate my oatmeal in the quietness of the night. Actually it was sort of peaceful.

I learned at Sunday school how it affected others. We don’t like to do without what we are used to having. “What’s wrong with those folks, don’t they know I have to watch the Mavericks tonight?” And we do get vocal with one another.

Once upon a time I lived in a far away land, where the people didn’t have all the nice things that we take for granted. Running water was one thing. Actually, the nationals who didn’t have the civilized houses with pipes in the wall were not as bothered as those of us who did. They carried their water from the neighborhood well, and never knew when the “que” people were out of water.

We learned what others did in those times and went down to waterside where we could get pig feet barrels for three dollars each. Empty barrels, that is, although the feet were sold down there, too. I never knowingly ate pigs feet, but barrels came in handy when the water went off. We put one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. That meant we had about sixty gallons of water to use for usual things. Hopefully the water would come back on before the barrels were empty. Yes, we did clean the barrels before we used them. Although the feet don’t smell as bad as other parts of the pig’s anatomy.

We often took our showers beneath the eve of the house during a nighttime downpour. It rained often; Liberia gets over 250 inches during the six-month rainy season. And very little in the dry season. In fact, during the dry season the St. John River (the city’s water source) got so low that at high tide the ocean would rush up the river. Which meant the water in the pipes was salty.

If the water was off, the electricity was probably off first, since it takes electricity to run the water pumps. We had to be ready for that as well. The candle factory did well, there was always a demand for their product. Just plain candles, not the smell good, decorator type, and only one variety at that.

Before the coup in 1980 there was a paint factory that sold white, black, red, green, and blue. If you wanted something in between you better know how to mix basic colors to get what you wanted. Time in Liberia was measured BC or AC: before the coup or after the coup. A split second was the time it took the taxi-man behind you to honk after the light changed to green. The owner of the paint factory was among those lined up on the beach and “executed.”

Liberia was once a peaceful, laid back place, called Little-America. After the coup, however, things deteriorated until the civil war broke out in 1988. Then all the que people had to leave, many with only the clothes on their back. Finally, after all these years things are slowly getting back to normal. Although, water and electricity are not available for most of the population. The taxi men now have cell phones, considering they never had regular phones, this is great. And since there is no electricity, there are no green lights to bother with. Beep-beep.

FYI: I was a missionary in Liberia.