Water (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Why is water so fascinating to us? What special properties of water capture our attention so profoundly?  We look at a big waterfall, like Niagara Falls, and see its power, magnificence and beauty.  We look at a pond and see its calm surface; we see the creatures living there, so content and happy.  We see running water out of a tap and thank God that we don’t have to search for water to drink or pump water out of a well.  Usually, if running water isn’t readily available to us though, we might have to pump it out of a well, or drink bottled water, or drink water from a water cooler, depending on the circumstances.  At least, having clean water to drink is not a big problem.

For such a simple compound (2 Hydrogen atoms to one Oxygen atom, or H2O), it is an absolute necessity for life on earth.  Human beings, plants and animals all need water in order to survive.  In fact, a human being’s body is made up of 98% water, which anyone but a scientist might find difficult to believe.  But, the water that we need for our health and survival must be fresh water.  Conversely, approximately three-quarters of the earth’s surface is made up of oceans, which consist of salt water.  Why is there such a big disparity between the amount of fresh water and this huge amount of salt water when it is so obvious that fresh water is what we need?  I believe that the answer lies mostly in the vast variety of marine life that can exist only in the oceans of the world.

Water comes in three different forms: solid, liquid and gas.  How many other compounds are available that can take all three forms?  When water is solid, it becomes ice and ice has many uses in our lives.  We can use it in a cold drink on a hot summer day, treat a wound with an ice pack, and skate on a frozen ice rink (indoors or outdoors).  When water is liquid, we use it for drinking (as pure water), or we can mix pure water with different flavours to make various delicious drinks.  We use it for cooking and baking, bathing our bodies, washing our food, dishes and clothes, cleaning our houses, and for using the facilities when Nature calls.  When water is in gaseous form, we can use the steam that is produced to clean dirty floors (with a steam cleaner), help a dishwasher to do a better job of cleaning dishes, and help a person to breathe more easily when he/she is suffering from a respiratory illness (using a vaporizer).  As you can see, water has many, many practical uses.

Water can also be a very destructive force in Nature. For example, in certain Central American countries, flash floods of epidemic proportions have been known to destroy buildings, homes, roads, bridges and vehicles of all sizes, and to uproot big trees and hydro poles due to massive soil erosion when heavy rainfall causes rivers and lakes to overflow.  Floods like this have horrific consequences in terms of causing massive death and destruction.  People often drown in such floods or when they are boating or simply by falling into small ditches that have become flooded. People can be harmed or killed by drinking contaminated water, as well, or by washing their food in such water.

One of the most interesting series I have ever seen about ice is broadcast regularly on the History Channel in a program called “Ice Road Truckers”.  This program is shot on location in the far north of Alaska, near the Arctic Circle.  It’s about truck drivers who make their living by driving in extremely hazardous road conditions involving ice, or on pure ice roads, which are built across lakes and oceans.  Amazingly enough, these drivers can navigate a fully loaded tractor trailer truck over a span of water that is frozen to a minimum three-foot thickness. These ice roads are extremely strong, but the ice can still shift and even crack under the weight of a heavy truck, without giving way.  Nevertheless, driving over ice roads is very dangerous because the ice can give way and break. 

It takes a very special type of person to drive big, heavy trucks over ice – the type of person who loves a challenge and relishes the risk.  When these drivers succeed in their assigned runs, their peers admire them tremendously. However, if they fail, they can be severely injured or die by falling through the ice.  Most ordinary people wouldn’t even consider doing such things, but these truck drivers thrive on the thrill of it.

Another interesting kind of program that I enjoy watching on TV is the triathlon competition that appeals to superior athletes.  This kind of competition involves three stages (each over a long distance):  swimming, bicycling and running.  The whole race takes place over a few hours and each stage is timed for each athlete to completion.  The athlete who finishes all three stages with the best time overall is the winner.  The swimming phase is the first and most difficult stage and will usually make the critical difference for the winning athlete.  It involves swimming in the ocean or a large lake a set distance out and then back to shore.  If the athlete is a very good swimmer and can complete this phase relatively ahead in the competitive field, then he/she has much more of an advantage in the other two stages.  None of these stages is easy by itself; the most important stress is placed on the athlete’s overall performance.  Besides the marathon (a running event that spans 26 miles), it is the most difficult of all the sports.  A close rival might also be the decathlon (10 track and field events); however, neither the marathon nor decathlon involves swimming.

There are excellent competitive swimmers in many different pool events at the Olympic Games or the World Championships.  I enjoy watching these competitions, as well, because swimmers at the elite level make swimming look easy, but I know that it’s definitely not.  Though I, myself, have never competed in swimming, I have swum across a couple of small lakes and have earned my Bronze Medallion in swimming achievement.  Swimming at the elite level of competition, however, is an entirely different story.  It involves hours of regular daily practice in the pool, as well as additional activities outside of the pool.  It has to be considered a full-time job at that level.  Anything less than that kind of commitment means a swimmer has less of a chance of even making it onto a world-class team, let alone achieving a significant victory on that team.

Regardless of a person’s interest in water sports, however, of which swimming is only one, water tends to be a popular medium for enjoyment.  Thus, despite water’s many practical uses at home, at work, and in industry, there are many other ways for us to use water to enrich our lives.  For example, we can enjoy lying on a lovely beach on the ocean or a lake.  We can also go boating (in a motor boat), sailing (in a sailboat), water-skiing, jet-skiing, and even racing in boats.  We can play water polo or do synchronized swimming or diving (as part of a team), or even get involved in an “aqua-cise” class (doing exercises in the water).

On a grander scale, there are boats that are made for big bodies of water, like Great Lake freighters, ocean liners and huge cruise liners, and there are smaller ferry boats and tour boats, as well.  This list of water vehicles is by no means exhaustive, but merely demonstrates the many ways in which we have managed to use water to help make our lives better and, at the same time, accomplish a goal.

Although water is definitely necessary for life, to make our lives even richer and fuller, we can also do things in the water, around the water, or on the water that will allow us to enjoy our lives even more.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.