At the risk of being offensive, I have to note that we as Americans have a view of some natural functions that are, to say the least, out of the global mainstream. I will call attention to a couple before I strike the main stream of my commentary.
For one, Americans have a weird thing with hair. For men, we either spend a fortune on stuff that will make it grow more - and faster - or we take care not to leave so much as a shadow. Groups of men with shaved heads often resemble a bowling convention. Not that a bare head is bad-looking; it just is hard on people who have forgotten their sunglasses on a sunny day. For women, the rules are far more byzantine. On the one hand, we love to see different styles of hairdos, some of them downright bizarre. I saw a lady the other day with enough hair to build a yurt. Most of it was green. On the other hand, scores of places advertise a "bikini" pluck that's guaranteed not to grow out for at least the weekend. Armpits, it is decreed, should be hairless. So should legs - at least the parts people are supposed to see. No wonder they made a musical about hair.
But that's not the major point.
On a trip to India, my wife and I were endlessly astounded by the number of males emptying their bladders against anything stationary. Buildings, trees, woodpiles - anything. They didn't seem embarrassed or perturbed. They had to go -so they went. What was odd, we didn't see one instance of feminine urinary activity anywhere. Here, I thought, was a fertile field for women's lib campaigners.
Being tourists, both of us had ample opportunities to relieve ourselves, but I caught myself feeling a slight tinge of guilt. The fact that the guilt was mine and not the guys outside also struck me as a little unbalanced. Then I thought about it and started figuring how much water those pee-ers were saving, compared to us at home. Why should they feel guilty?
Each time we lift the lid, we're contributing anywhere from a gallon to three and a half gallons of H2O to the waste water problem. Even with a little judicial doubling-up, we still use up one hell of a lot of water. With a water shortage in many parts of the country, however, when was the last time you heard someone on a talk show urge us to simply pee in the shower? Before you say, "Heavens, Bogus, that's gross!!" think a little about it. The water that goes down the drain ends up in the same place as the water that flows down the toilet. So each time you step out of the shower, you could do so with the satisfaction that comes from keeping the coming draught at bay a little longer.
There are some arguments against public peeing. There is the matter of odor, for one. However, a scientist has come up with a waterless toilet that uses sawdust to eliminate this and this may be extended to public conveniences in the future. It is entirely possible that the predicted global water shortage can be solved by some good old excretory ingenuity. Like going easy on the coffee in the morning. As the Number One nation on earth, isn't it normal that we should solve our Number One problem though the management of Number One? If there could be accommodation on the water front, the chances of war over water supplies would lessen and there would be a greater chance for Peace on Earth.
The purpose of this diary, therefore, is to think outside the box. It also entails peeing outside of the narrow confines of society-imposed parameters. If we were charged by the flush, I'd be willing to bet we'd change our habits. And think how happy dogs are........