Leon JAckson Davenport
water, water everywhere...
Water.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the scarcity of clean water and how it will color the world my grandson, Ku’umanu, will inherit. As he grows up, will his world still be the big blue marble astronauts of my youth saw from space? Or will it become a dystopian nightmare where water is scarce and ultimately becomes a commodity traded on the black market?
Water.
Water is the life-giver, celebrated and cursed in literature. It is admired and worshipped for its abundance, beauty, and seeming endlessness. We can’t live without it; I find it beautiful—the setting sun, as it paints the sky in reds, yellows, and blues, is reflected in its waves, creating a symphony of color that makes you glad to be alive.
Water.
Alternatively, it can be deadly: stagnant water becomes toxic, and contaminated water causes dysentery and other diseases.
“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Mr. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in his epic poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
Saltwater also has dangers. The vast seas filled with water can’t be drunk, and when the winds blow fiercely and the waves surge, water can turn a simple boat trip into a nightmare ending in an introduction to Davy Jones’ Locker.
Water.
As told in a TV show from my childhood: “Rip VanWinkle,” produced by Famous Fantasies, when the Elves of the Mountains questioned Rip Van Winkle about what he did for their river, he said:
“All I ever done for your river is just sit there and look at it…I sit and watch the Sun turn it to gold in the daytime, and at night, the moon turn it to silver. Like a precious jewel.”
I, too, like watching water as it glimmers and surges. I enjoy watching birds and other animals play in it and make their homes by it or in it. For me, it gives a sense of peace that is special and different from other ways of calming the swells and breakers of one’s soul.
Water.
It used to be that we would pollute our rivers and lakes with waste from factory runoff. In some places, you can still see the pipes that once carried sludge, and toxins that portend the destruction of our waterways remain visible along many shores. Thankfully, they are rusting away from disuse as Mother Nature reclaims her shores. That is what we must guard against: the misuse and neglect that come from chasing riches. It is a false choice because neglecting to keep our water safe and clean means ruin for everyone and everything.
Water.
When water becomes disquiet, it causes floods, and when it hides in the clouds, it causes droughts that shape our lives and alter civilizations. Wars have been fought over water before, and they are likely to be again. I must wonder: In the future, will a hot shower still be a cheap way to ease aches, pains, and stress, or will it become a luxury only the wealthy can afford? I don’t know, but I do know we must begin now if we want to secure a future that resembles the present. Conserve, clean, and protect our waterways, oceans, and rivers, or soon, the unthinkable may become our reality.
Leon Jackson Davenport
Author
Leon Jackson Davenport is a Novelist, Playwright, Photographer, and Emmy-nominated Video Editor. He specializes in three main photographic genres: Landscape/Seascape, Wildlife, and Street/Documentary. Whether photographing a vibrant sunset or a rusty old truck, he finds something unique in each—an emotion, whether joy and wonder or revulsion and discomfort. He is comfortable working in both black-and-white and color. As with language, certain phrases don’t translate well and are more effectively communicated in the original tongue, so some subjects are better suited to black-and-white than to color. Leon Jackson Davenport’s photographs aim to capture that emotion and create art that will move you.
Water, water everywhere...
Leon Jackson Davenport
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