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Monday, July 3
Let’s start with a dilemma I experienced this afternoon. Imagine yourself in my situation, then select a solution from below. I just exited the bus from the afternoon dig. I was tired, sweaty, and dusty. I gathered my remaining clean clothes and headed straight to the bathroom without changing first. I left my dirty clothes in a dusty heap outside of the community shower. I let the water wash away the dirt which had embedded itself in every crevice. Then it dawned on me: I had no towel. As I stood there dripping, I considered my options:
1. Do nothing. Open the shower window to the outside, wait about 30 minutes, and drip dry.
2. Put on my undergarments while I was soaking wet. Slosh down the 35 foot hall and collect the towel. (Keep in mind that this was my last pair of underclothes.)
3. Use the sweaty, dusty pile of clothes on the floor as my towel.
4. Use my only remaining pair of clean pants as my towel.
5. Use the toilet paper in the stall next to me as my towel.
6. Do what my dog does. Shake off, then run around crazy rubbing myself on every wall I encounter.
I’ll give you a minute. Which would you have selected?
If you picked #4, congratulations! It’s the same option I chose. Like all of the options, it was terrible. Have you ever tried drying your hair with a pant leg? The absolute best feeling was when I dragged the zipper across my back. The end results included several long scratch marks, newly soaked pants, and a still wet body.
This is just one example of the new type of decisions I get to make every day now. Here are a few others:
1. Which pair of dirty socks smell slightly less like the vengeful wrath of almighty God?
2. Should I place my wet garments on the outside clothes line, even though there is a bird nest above? (Yes, I found a brown glob of bird poop on my t-shirt when I came back.)
3. Is that brown glob of bird poop bad enough to make me hand wash it again? (The answer was no. I waited for it to be fully dry then flicked it off.)
4. Is it worth walking half a mile in 100 degrees for the chance of a hamburger, or is the granola bar in my bag good enough?
I have a new appreciation of my American lifestyle. We can shower whenever we wish, we have clean laundry in abundance, and we have almost unlimited food options that are easy to obtain. In other words, I never have to make the choices I make here everyday. This is good for me, and I’m glad I came. However, may I ask something of you? Look at the people, places, and conveniences you take for granted. Give them a mental hug of thanks.
There are only three photos for today. I ask you to compare them to your daily commute. The first is my walk to the site in the morning. The second is my walk back to the bus in the afternoon. And the third is the director's mode of transportation. You only receive that once you've been walking the long path for twenty years.
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