It's not just a matter of 'spending a penny'

I guess it's a case of 'watch' while you wee with this baby

When you first swung your feet over the edge of the bed this morning it is likely that your first order of business – before coffee even – was, well, your first order of ‘business’. That is, you went and had a pee. Most of us do. I confess, I do.

You go into your nice appointed biffy, all chrome and porcelain, and clean and sweet smelling, and you do what nature demands that you do at that precise moment, with not too many moments to spare past that precise moment.

But, the point is, you probably don’t think of yourself as being remarkably privileged in being able to spend your first interlude of wakefulness tending to your needs in pleasant surroundings.

I mention this because, and you might not have been aware, that tomorrow, November 19th is World Toilet Day. That’s right. This year the international convention is being held in Bangkok, and this UN sanctioned recognition of global tinkling needs is far from being a frivolous one.

In that, it is much more important than National Hot Dog Day, or Dill Pickle Month. What it addresses is the deadly serious reality that while most of us in the First World have pleasing sanitation options, some 2.6 billion people worldwide have no form of improved sanitation.

That means that when they need to ‘go’, they either go to the bush, or some sort of vile outhouse contraption. Those of us who have traveled in destitute countries know well how challenging, not to mention obnoxious, such rudimentary facilities can be. That is to say, this isn’t just outhouse use while camping, this is for those who live there, all the time.

It’s not all about esthetics, either. Anyone can get over bad smells and fears of rats coming up through the hole our bare bums are hovering over What the conference strives to address is how rudimentary sewage disposal despoils potable water sources and spreads such diseases as cholera, dysentery, and polio.

The old ‘jokes’ about not drinking the water in Mexico are much more serious than ripostes about turista, or Montezuma’s Revenge, they reflect that here is a society that, especially in rural areas, is not yet dealing adequately with human evacuation. My ex-wife got amebic dysentery in Mexico when we were on there on vacation. It was utterly unamusing, and the residuals lasted for virtually a year afterward, and depleted her already challenged health (she has MS) radically.

So, as I say, enjoy your comforting potty visit (as will I) but lend a thought to the reality of the day. And realize that we live lives much more charmed and safer than elsewhere in the world.