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Paul Broekman website

water

The value of water

Half full, half empty

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Since the winter of 2008 I realize the value of water. As the whole water system of our village was frozen because of the exceptional cold weather we had to carry our own water from the well.

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Everyday I went to the well with a wheelbarrow to take water. Sometimes I had to make a path through the snow before I was able to go to the well. It was not an easy yob to do. the more time passed I realised that all over the world there are people, most of them women, who has to do the same: carrying water from a well to there house.

I myself have seen this many times in India. Women with pots on there heads, walking gracious on dusty roads in the heat of the sun. They know how must water they have to carry for there daily needs.

"Half empty, Half full". Paul Broekman 2008

Since last winter I also am aware of the amount of water I need for daily use. And I learned to use water by not spoiling it of course. Half a jerry can of water gave me the feeling that I still had water in the house. It made me aware of the difference between looking at it as 'half full' or 'half empty'.

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There is a Turkish expression about this subject. "Bardagin dolu tarafini görmek".
It means : "To look at a half empty glass as if it is full".

Mahatma Gandhi repeated many times that 'There is enough for everybody's need, but not enough for anybody's greed'.

Carrying my own water from the well to my house made me more aware of these two expressions then ever before.

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