Peaceful Toilets
When we here at FCNL think about promoting peace instead of war, we tend to think of the big ways to do it – decreasing military spending, sending more diplomats out to American embassies, and promoting dialogue between countries.
But as the Foreign Policy blog points out today, sometimes we need to look at the details to help foster peaceful communities and countries.
Their post focuses on countries that have the lowest accessibility to sanitation facilities, starting off with an anecdote about how complaints from foreigners forced the organizers of the Beijing Olympics to install more sit toilets. This may seem a little whiny – it’s not that hard to use a squat toilet once you have the practice – but I can understand where the athletes, and to a much greater extent, average people in Eritrea and Haiti, are coming from.
When I went to China in 2004, one of the unexpected excursions that were part of my travels with the students was to climb the Fan Jin mountain (it took me about 3 hours). Because I was (or felt that I was) a lazy, out-of-shape American, after climbing the mountain (and coming down, which was possibly harder) my legs were pretty sore. So sore in fact, that it made using squat toilets nearly impossible. The inability to find a toilet that I could use with ease put me in a foul mood, and made me act out in odd and irrational ways. Finding a place to use the facilities became an obsession, and when I was finally in a hotel room with a sit toilet for a few days I used the bathroom (hung out in there really) at least once an hour – just because I could.
Now, this confession of mine is borderline too much information, and possibly proves that I am a sheltered whiny American, but I think that my reaction is proof that depriving people of relatively easy ways to satisfy their basic needs (hunger, disposing of waste matter, thirst) can lead to unrest and irrational behavior.
In addition to focusing on large-scale prevention of war, we should also remember that helping people to live with dignity, self-sufficiency, and actualization can go a long way to achieving peace. After all, unemployed young people are awfully easy to transform into soldiers.
But as the Foreign Policy blog points out today, sometimes we need to look at the details to help foster peaceful communities and countries.Their post focuses on countries that have the lowest accessibility to sanitation facilities, starting off with an anecdote about how complaints from foreigners forced the organizers of the Beijing Olympics to install more sit toilets. This may seem a little whiny – it’s not that hard to use a squat toilet once you have the practice – but I can understand where the athletes, and to a much greater extent, average people in Eritrea and Haiti, are coming from.
When I went to China in 2004, one of the unexpected excursions that were part of my travels with the students was to climb the Fan Jin mountain (it took me about 3 hours). Because I was (or felt that I was) a lazy, out-of-shape American, after climbing the mountain (and coming down, which was possibly harder) my legs were pretty sore. So sore in fact, that it made using squat toilets nearly impossible. The inability to find a toilet that I could use with ease put me in a foul mood, and made me act out in odd and irrational ways. Finding a place to use the facilities became an obsession, and when I was finally in a hotel room with a sit toilet for a few days I used the bathroom (hung out in there really) at least once an hour – just because I could.
Now, this confession of mine is borderline too much information, and possibly proves that I am a sheltered whiny American, but I think that my reaction is proof that depriving people of relatively easy ways to satisfy their basic needs (hunger, disposing of waste matter, thirst) can lead to unrest and irrational behavior.
In addition to focusing on large-scale prevention of war, we should also remember that helping people to live with dignity, self-sufficiency, and actualization can go a long way to achieving peace. After all, unemployed young people are awfully easy to transform into soldiers.
posted by Caroline at
3:53 PM
1 Comments:
great post. reminds me of Schumacher's 'Small is Beautiful', and how it's the little things that can sometimes make the biggest difference...
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