“More than a billion people lack adequate access to clean water.” ~David Suzuki
People will do a lot to gain access… to a country, or a job, or a family member, or to people in positions of power, or a club, or… any number of things.
Access, one could argue, is not simply highly desirable, it is often a critical necessity as anyone in a wheelchair can attest.
My family owns a cottage in Canada. Last summer (and perhaps this one as well) they had no way to get to it with the border closed.
Obviously, this is not a critical necessity but it is nonetheless highly desirable.
Access.
Doesn’t matter what you own if you lack access to it.
Doesn’t matter what you need or want either.
- Access to clean water, to education, to health care.
- Access to green space and clear skies and a spot of ground to call one’s own.
- Access to information, the internet and opportunity.
- Access to equality, justice and acceptance.
And hope.
Access sparks hope and fans the flame of perseverance, but without access, it withers on the vine.
All sentient beings need and want and deserve all those things.
I realize, as I write, that I’ve experienced the benefits of having had access to most everything listed above.
And I think maybe I’ve taken it for granted, like the fish do water; it’s only when removed that they become aware of how much it is required for their survival.
And they flip-flop all over the place once caught, trying to get back into the water.
Because they want to live.
Much like we humans at the moment.
“A free society is one in which all traditions have equal rights and equal access to centers of power.” ~Paul Feyerabend
