AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 26
Monday, February 26, 2007
Whine and water: This is a crisis?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are times that some of my fellow Sandy Springsteens’ behavior makes my hair hurt. The recent water “crisis” was one of those times.
To briefly recap, a water main in North Fulton was damaged and some of us had to sip bottled water or boil our drinking water ahead of time — both measures to insure us against the possibility of a temporarily contaminated water supply. It sounds simple enough, but simple never is.
To hear some of the wailing and whining on the news you’d think the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse had come to town and blockaded the drive-thru at the Golden Arches.
One man talked about the “hardship” of having to secure enough bottled water for a weekend. If you stay away from those brands that claim to have come from some underground spring in a faraway land you can get a gallon of water for 97 cents. I’ll bet that poor chap must have had to lay out a fiver for his weekend supply.
Another woman complained about how the water department let the main get damaged, making it sound like a fraternity prank. I don’t think they planned this, if for no other reason that having to dig a hole in the dirt this time of year can be a rather chilly undertaking.
Folks, three to five days of bottled water does not constitute a hardship. Less than a week of having to boil water for home use does not make you a martyr.
There are people living on the Gulf Coast of this great nation that still do not have homes more than a year after Hurricane Katrina. There are people in rural parts of this country that have never had running water. These people would sell a kidney if their biggest problem were a weekly trip to the grocery for some Evian.
Remember when you were growing up and your parents told you to stop whining and realize the world does not revolve around you? I think they meant for you to have cleared that hurdle by now. Or as a friend puts it: “You can climb down off the cross now. Someone else needs the wood.”
