Our daughter–in-law, who was born in New Orleans and grew up in Corpus Christi, started giving formula milk to our granddaughter Lia a few months ago.
Lia has become a source of joy to all of us.
Through her beautiful, large and intelligent , she gazes everywhere. Sometimes I feel that she already knows about our world.
Mostly, though, I see her looking deeply into every corner of her surrounding, in order to discover and learn the world that she is born in.
Her parents take her everywhere to see, to touch, to learn.
One morning I woke up in horror from a nightmare I had been struggling with all night.
Unable to find a way out, I woke up, ran to the kitchen, held a clear glass under the faucet and turned the knob.
The transparent water poured in my glass. I felt released and thankful.
Still, I was shaky. I could not forget my dream or escape my nightmare.
In my dream, when I turned on the water in my kitchen, heavy black water streamed into my glass.
Immediately I thought of Lia.
In a sudden panic, I asked myself, “What will Lia drink to survive?
“How will her parents prepare the milk for her?
“How about the millions of babies in the world waiting to be fed with bottles?”
How Crucial Water Is
I was asking myself all kinds of questions.
How could I prepare tonight’s dinner?
We had no water to wash the vegetables or to prepare the soup.
When I went outside and looked at my dog’s bowl, it was almost empty. What was I going to pour for our poor dog?
I needed to take a shower. How could I? No water was available. This went on all night.
That was the reason that in the morning I was so relieved our tap water was still good for use.
I blessed and thanked G-d. I told myself this is the main reason that Jews bless and thank G-d for every moment.
We have blessings for everything, before eating bread, drinking wine, eating the first fruit, for the smell of a flower and so on.
Our ancestors were aware of this. They knew, in their wisdom, we should not take anything for granted.
We have to be thankful for all that we have because one swift day everything can be taken away from us.
When I was reassured that our water was pouring normally, my mind went back to the ten plagues that we read on Passover night.
I imagined the moment when he Egyptians saw their waters and rivers turning to red. They also had babies and animals to worry about. What a horror. This is the reason that on Passover we read the ten plagues in a lower voice. We are saddened, and we have compassion for their situation.
When I was watching the news on television last night, the Gulf disaster, I saw the feathers of beautiful birds covered in heavy oil. They cannot fly or swim anymore.
Hot tears rolled on my face. I tasted their salty flavor, and that made me sadder.
My tears have still clear color. But our waters don’t anymore. I remember seeing the beautiful blue water, birds and nature while I was visiting Mobile, AL.
I still can see the natural happy dances of the dolphins jumping with their little ones along the beautiful coastline of Corpus Christi.
What a horror now. My terrible dream is becoming reality.
But I know that there is a major differences between us and the Egyptians. The Egyptians were dealing with G-d, who had a message to transmit. Immediately after that, they understood and the situation returned to normal immediately.
Unfortunately, this time we are not dealing with G-d but with greedy individuals, who only think of green dollars instead of clear waters.
Now I have two reflections:
If only one of the wells yielded many millions of gallons of oil. Why have we become the slaves of the Middle Eastern countries? Why does the price of our gas suddenly jump high when one of their politicians coughs or shouts louder against us?
Just a reminder: We are told that we have a probable maximum life expectation of 120 years. Those responsible appear to be in their middle age. Everyone is aware that no one takes all the money he has earned out of this world with him. Now we and they are going to be buried in the oily earth that they have created. But if cremation is desired, our ashes will be spread on greasy, dirty waters where they cannot float freely any more. Was this the legacy they had planned for their lives?
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, earned her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving wth her husband and children to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published three books in America and is at work on her fourth. Since 1985, Dr. Cohen has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. She may be contacted at rosemary@atelierdeparis.com
