Water

water, wind, air, fire, earth... the elements that make up our world. I like to think of these elements, how we respond to them and how they affect us. Water brings peace (unless it's running down the walls). Be it the glassy surface of a still lake, the mesmeric pounding of waves upon the beach, or the steady drum of rain upon the roof, there is something about water that stills the soul.

Wind disturbs the thoughts. Think of the way schoolchildren behave on a windy day – they become wind-sprites themselves, unable to settle.

Air gives life. Taste it.

Fire warms but can also destroy. Fire is that side of ourselves that can so easily get out of hand, and consume everything in its path. If we do not master it, it will master us.

Lastly, good, solid earth. We had better look after the earth, for it IS us. We come from it, it nourishes us, we return to it. It is our first and last dwelling place.

It freezes during some time of the year. At least in some parts of the world and in some people's feelings.

Sea water is salty, as you will be reminded when you cry.

So Pilate called for water and washed his hand. We don´t know if he used a piece of soap too.

After three days wandering in the outback of the Nevada desert, I began to understand what water really is. Try doing without it for several days. You may have to restructure your value system.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!

My friend who works for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says the western US will run out of water in 50 years. She says the east has 70 years' water left but long before it runs out there'll be serious quality problems.

I wish we hadn't bombed the water purification plants in Iraq. I spend a lot of time demonstratin' about it.

Fightin' over water (quality and amount) will be THE issue of the next century...for everybody on this planet.

My lover runs the water for a long time every morning, »to warm up the pipes.« Perfectly good water streaming down the drain. I grew up in a drought-ridden area. Some mornings I yell, others I just grit my teeth. Maybe some morning I'll pack my bathing suit and get out of here.

Water finds its own level. Like the movement of information, the channels it carves to find that level cannot always be predicted.

The fact that people pay for bottled water boggles the mind. It needs to be shipped, thereby creating pollution and wating fuel. It needs to have bottles to put it in, thereby wasting tons of plastic. It costs more per unit than gasoline, yet I have talked with people who complained about the high price of fuel while drinking bottled water. Turn on your tap and get the water. If that water is no good, then fix it. Get a filter. Complain to the city. Boil it. Make Kool Aid.

i'm like water,
i flow real smooth all day,
thinking while i'm speaking,
rhyming words that i say

Frank sat by the water mill. It reminded him...reminded him...of his previous life. The rush of the water, the weeded wetness downstream, chuntered by like his now lost, long-gone, old life under a different name. Around and around in the current swirled the consciousness of Dr F.L. Dearie, né Mills.

Water brings life and death. It is both healing and a scourge. I am made up of water and the things that float in it. I bring both life and death. I can be both a healer and a scourge.