I have a terrible habit of not finishing beverages. Size doesn’t matter. Whether it’s a 16 oz bottle of water or an 8 oz tiny can of Diet Coke, I don’t finish it.
Bottled water for some reason takes the brunt of my compulsion. It’s embarrassing to admit but there are times where I’ll just take a sip or two of a bottle of water and never touch it again.
Such was the case with the bottle of water in my car. It was the middle of August and on this particular day I grabbed a bottle of water on my way out to run errands. I took two sips and it stayed boiling in my car ever since.
On my way home from visiting a friend a few days later, I realized I was extremely thirsty. I hadn’t had a bit of water all day.
Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper? 
Yes.
Lots of sips.
Water?
No.
As I looked around my car, this forlorn bottle of water sat in my passenger seat. It was the only relief in sight and my forty-five minute drive stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic began to feel like six hours as the sun began to burn my left arm.
“It’s not like it’s contaminated” I reassured myself. “It’s just really, really warm. That’s all. You can drink it. Come on.”
I unscrewed the blue cap, letting a bit of the air out of the bottle and took a gulp.
Warm and plasticky.
Delightful.
I began wondering how healthy this water could actually be if all I tasted was plastic. I thought about the segment on The Today Show where they compared the different numbers of the different plastics and I tried to remember which ones were toxic. Because I’m sure whatever it was I was drinking was not safe for consumption.
The heat of the water I was drinking, the droplets of sweat forming in the small of my back, and the sun being magnified by my untinted windows took me back to my trip to India earlier this year.
And this hot little bottle of water made me think of a little boy I met named Tushar.
***
Tushar is a five year old who lives three hours outside of Kolkata. A few months ago, I began sponsoring him through an organization called Compassion International.
When I was in India, a few days before I left, I had the chance to meet Tushar and his father. They took a train from their village into the city. The translator introduced us and I realized Tushar’s dad was holding a bag and would occasionally take out a bottle of water for his son.
The bottle of water wasn’t like anything you or I would see, much less drink from, here in the States. There was no label. The outside was scratched.
Yet what was most surprising was what kind of water the bottle contained.
If I didn’t know better, I would think it was sun tea with lemon. It was a light brown, with little pieces of something floating in it.
But it was Tushar’s water. His drinking water. Water that was so precious, his father helped him ration it throughout their trip.
After a visit to Science City, a museum that would be considered totally odd and possibly unsafe by Western standards, we went to a building that would be parallel to a Western mall. It had stores and a food court.
And it was lunch time.
Our host went to some of the restaurants to get us all something to drink. She came back with ice-cold bottled water.
Clean, never opened, cold bottled water.
Tushar’s dad reached across the table to open his bottle. Tushar leaned forward to take his first sip and when he grabbed the bottle for the first time, he immediately dropped it back on the table like it had bit him, almost spilling it. He pulled away and giggled.
I was a little confused but very much intrigued by his reaction. He wiped the condensation off his hand and reached forward for the bottle of water again. This time he didn’t grab it. He merely touched it with a couple of his fingers.
And Tushar giggled again.
Finally I realized something. He’s never touched anything cold before.
The area of India that he lives in rarely sees temperatures below 60 degrees.
The cold surprised him.
But in a good way.
Playfully, I poured cold water from my bottle into the tiny blue cap and splashed him with it.
He. Freaked. Out.
We continued our little water fight until his dad moved his bottle closer to him, as to say ,”This is for drinking and not for playing,” and Tushar sat up, knowing his dad was serious, and took a sip.
His eyes got wide as he felt the cold water slide down the back of his throat. When it reached his stomach, he grabbed his belly and grinned and giggled.
Drinking cold water was such a new experience for this little boy.
***
So, here I was, between Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee on I-65 contemplating the level of “poison” in my completely safe water and I wondered about Tushar and what he’s doing today. I wondered about his bottle of water. I doubt he was drinking anything nearly as clean or as available as I was. In fact, I doubt he had tasted water as cold or as clean since our time in the food court.
I held back the tears that so wanted to escape and travel down my face because of the unfairness of it all.
I wonder how many bottles of water I’ve carelessly and needlessly thrown away when a little boy and his family are grateful to have their dirty water in a bottle they found and probably share and hold dear.
For Pete’s sake. Even my dog has access to cleaner water than Tushar.
I can’t send Tushar clean water in the mail. I can’t take it to him or even make sure that he has access to it.
It’s a helpless feeling.
And it’s easy to ignore because it is so overwhelming.
What can I do? I can give Tushar a voice. I can speak for him by telling his story. You’re reading about him now. Maybe you’ll want to share his story too.
We may not be able to fix every problem we see, but we can allow the stories we hear to remind us of the incredible responsibility we have to share the needs of a broken world.
These stories can awaken us and inspire us to act: We can donate money to a water charity or go on a trip to build a well or to take some clean water to the homeless in our own cities and towns.
Now that you know, what will you do?
Comments
21 responses to “My Toxic Bottle of Water”
wow, wow, wow…..there are no words. I don’t think I’ll be wasting another drop of water again!!! Thank you for this and for stiring up our passion to go out into the world and make a difference!! I was totally blessed by this!
.-= Lauren Kelly´s last blog ..Open mouth, insert foot Kanye! =-.
Compelling! And you can see where that line our parents used to hit us with at dinner time came from when we wouldn’t finish our food and we were scolded and reminded of starving kids in other countries. Once you get a revelation about it is is very hard to justify a lot of our careless and wasteful actions. Thanks for the reminder from a fellow Compassion International family. Our two kids are penpals with two kids their same age. It is AWESOME! :)
.-= Michelle Sidles´s last blog ..Before & After: My Office =-.
My husband and I had a similar conversation last night. I was looking at Mocha Club’s website and I made the comment that it is mind boggling that people don’t have clean water. Something that is so simple for us we take for granted every single day. He said that he started realizing the same thing ever time he’d empty out water bottles left in his truck from work to be put in the recycle bin. He’s dumping out water and there are people that have none. I hope that we begin to think a little more when it comes to stuff like that.
.-= Prudychick´s last blog ..Remembering on 9/11 =-.
Incredible post. Challenged me in so many ways. I work in a Major League Baseball clubhouse where wasted food and drinks are the norm. We waste more than I have ever experienced. Due to legalities we are not allowed to donate left over food or drink. It’s hard for me to experience but in some ways I have become comfortable with this concept. I am guilty of the water bottle waste as well as other edibles. I always find some guilt associated with wasting and this post brings a tangible situation to this. Definitely challenged me through Tushar’s story. Thanks for the post!
.-= Shane Sanchez´s last blog ..Too Blessed To Be Stressed! (Barf!) =-.
Wow that was and is challenging. I will be chewing on this today. Thanks Anne!
.-= Rick Apperson´s last blog ..Redeeming the Time =-.
Hi,
We had a similar realization experience in April. Although we haven’t yet gone to meet our sponsored children, we are working towards that.
You and your readers are all welcome to click the link to read our blog post entitled, “The cry of hunger and thirst”.
Thanks for the great reminder, and have a blessed week!
Love,
Andy and Miranda – In Him
Amazing post – really needed that grounding today. Many thanks :)
.-= Brittany´s last blog ..IMPOSSIBLE = Loss of Control! =-.
Oh Anne! We take so much for granted. This is why I’m trying to break my bonds to so much “stuff” in order to free up resources. I’m wondering today about my Lucy (Nduta) in Kenya. What is she drinking? What is she drinking it from?
.-= Sandra King´s last blog ..Change – Ready or Not =-.
I just want to go to Kolkata… SEND ME, I’LL GO!
Love the video… by the way, do you know what Tushar means???
I lived in Swaziland last year and one of the sweet things I enjoyed was all of the people’s names means something… usually something related to God. All the missionaries get Swazi names as well, mine being “Kaynesile” or “light”…
Just wondering….
.-= Natalie´s last blog ..Video of Swaz trip. This is jetlag in FULL EFFECT! =-.
I go to Healing Place Church and we hand out thousands of bottles of water as a way to connect with people. I wonder if any of us truly know the value of that water.
Phenomenal post, Anne. I have a bottle of water on my desk and I haven’t been able to take a drink of it since I read your post 2 hours ago. Straight to the heart.
.-= Donna Frank´s last blog ..A good, solid throat-punch =-.
wow.
thanks for taking the time to tell his story.
am currently living in guatemala, working with street children, and it breaks my heart to see so many needs every day and i wish i could do so much more. and sometimes it seems like this world is so far from my normal life that i don?t know how to reconcile them and make the two meet.
but you?re right, we can tell their stories.
thanks
.-= Gemma´s last blog ..Some things I have learnt these 9 months =-.
oh forgot to mention a great idea started by my friends in Australia…
http://www.thankyouwater.org/
profits for this bottled water go to well building. for every bottle you buy, someone in a developing nation will have water for at least a month.
amazing project, if ur in Aus buy thankyou water!!…don?t know if there is anything similar in the states
.-= Gemma´s last blog ..Some things I have learnt these 9 months =-.
Hey Anne;
here’s an article about water that my denomination prepared. It’s pretty interesting.
Peace
http://www.united-church.ca/files/beliefs/policies/2006/pdf/w143.pdf
When I was reading this I was ready to Amen your toxic water comment with my story about a stop at a CVS last week on a 104 degree summer day. Where all of the cases of bottled water were outside at the entrance stacked in piles. I was so irritated with the manager that she would have all of the bulk cases of water outside that I made a snotty comment to her as I walked out. “Oh, that is smart to have water outside on a 104 degree day”.
Now, my story seems trivial and ignorant on my part. It is amazing how I can get so high and mighty about what I think I deserve and what I expect for myself and my comfort. Ouch. There was a lot of I’s and me and my’s in that comment. Thanks for the reminder that this life is not about me.
.-= Lori Zimbardi´s last blog ..Joy =-.
My wife has the same terrible habit. It’s ridiculous. Oddly enuf, I think she also has the same laptop bag as you (photo from your India trip). Weird…
P.S. Great post – really. Thanks for sharing.
.-= Jeff Goins´s last blog ..On Never Being Happy =-.
Thanks so much for sharing Anne. It’s such a timely post because funds are being raised (through the end of September) for a water filtration system to be installed at DR540, which is the center one of my sponsored girl attends.
If anyone is interested you can make a donation to Healing Waters http://www.healingwatersintl.org/ (just mention Chris Giovagnoni in the special instructions box since he is the one trying to raise the funds)
Thank you for sharing this. Amazing story. Touched my heart. Opened dialogue with some folks I know too. Good stuff!
.-= John Leek´s last blog ..johnleek: @jdwalt Extended cab truck? ;) (I’m projecting here.) =-.
I love this post. Thanks so much for sharing it, it is great to hear about all the kids who are being sponsored and that its “real”. It’s amazing what we have and what others don’t.
.-= Sparkz´s last blog ..Worth your time =-.
this is beautiful. My husband and I are prayerfully considering sponsoring a child (we already have his name) —
and I keep running across these stories. Coincidence? I think not.
Thank you so much for sharing.
With love,
Catherine
Though I tend to finish all drinks I open (my mother was strict about this), I have found myself in the same situation where I have left a half bottle of water in the car and it’s become super hot (I live in Houston) and it’s terribly nasty to drink after being in the car for days.
I will think of the little boy in India. Too often we do take things for granted and it’s stories like this that brings up back to reality. I am a graduate student, and at this time do not have the funds to send to anyone, but I do have prayer and will pray for families like the little boys….
God bless him.
Such a powerful post – thank you for sharing! This world is so cruelly unfair.
We too are sponsoring a child through Compassion and one through World Vision. Thank the Lord for these wonderful organizations that are doing such amazing work!
.-= Janice (5 Minutes for Mom)?s last blog ..Social Media Moms Celebration at Walt Disney World =-.