WATER IS LIFE

We are water

From the ancient springs we come,

we are rivers

if the streams lend a hand,

we are water

if the torrents come together,

there is new life

if water is in our midst.

(Popular song)

Water is sacred for all peoples. It is sacred because it is life and life must be sacred. However, we have lost awareness of this. The quality of water is forever getting worse. The water that we are drinking, the water that we enjoy when we swim is more and more polluted because the industrial sectors and related councils pour the untreated waters of their tributaries into the rivers. This society is becoming corrupt because it feels no sacred bond with water: the market does not have ethical principles, it is spurred on only by financial gain. Capitalist development is destroying nature, destroys communal assets for private economic gain and deprives the rest of society of the benefit and enjoyment of these assets that belong to everyone: not only water but landscapes and mountains. All peoples and all societies have a way of connecting with water and this is what we call culture. Everything that we do in water, with water and make from it is to satisfy our basic needs: subsistence, protection, love, fun, freedom, creativity, understanding, participation and identity. These human needs are the same in all cultures and in all eras (the need is to hydrate ourselves but there are many ways to do this: what changes in cultures are the factors of satisfaction). Therefore, for society to give back to life its worthy value means restoring to water the value that it is entitled to.