🍵Grandpa Kisaburo's Wisdom Bag Episode 176: 'I learned about nature's blessings from the coldness of well water'

—— There is something important I forgot beyond the faucet

At the beginning of May, the morning air is still a little cold. Shota stopped for a moment while pouring water into a glass in the kitchen. Where does this water come from? I have almost never thought about this water that comes out as a matter of course when I turn the faucet. Ever since I was a child, water has always been 'something that is there.' Even hot water comes out with the push of a button. It was so natural that I never even questioned it. I cannot even imagine what it means to have no drinking water. Even though I cannot do anything without water, I have assumed it is natural for it to be there. I suddenly noticed that insensitivity and felt a little ashamed. Holding the glass, Shota headed to the veranda.

When he went out to the veranda, Grandpa was drinking tea as usual. Steam was rising thinly into the morning light. The garden soil was damp from last night's rain. When Shota brought up the subject of tap water, Grandpa narrowed his eyes and said, 'Hmm.'

'When I was a child, there was no such thing as tap water. My daily routine was to go to the well to draw water every morning.'

'Every morning? That must have been hard.'

'It was hard. On winter mornings, my hands would get numb. But, that coldness was exceptional.' Grandpa spread his hands and made a gesture as if wrapping something. 'The coldness of the water when I lowered a bucket into the well on a summer morning and pulled it up—it was like a gift arriving from the depths of the earth. My hands would tingle, I would wake up, and I would feel with my body that I was alive again today. That sensation is completely different from taking a shower. I felt like I was being made to be grateful for water with my whole body.'

Shota listened in silence.

'Once, there was a drought, and the well water kept decreasing. Every morning, my mother would check the water level in the bucket with eyes that looked like she was praying to God. The neighborhood ladies would also gather, and we would live by sharing the water, talking about which well still had water or deciding to refrain from doing laundry that day. Even to me as a child, I was strictly told only one thing: to use water carefully. I still clearly remember the tension of that time.'

Grandpa gently wrapped his teacup with both hands. That gesture looked like the way one handles water with care.

'That was the first time I truly understood from the bottom of my heart that water is something given by heaven. I started to feel grateful every time it rained. I even came to love the sound of the soil absorbing water. Without water, you cannot cook rice, wash your body, or farm. Such obvious things finally became visible to me in a life of inconvenience.'

'Nature's blessings can only be truly felt in inconvenience.'

Shota stared at the glass in his hand. It was just ordinary, clear water. But today, it looks a little different.

'It is a good thing to become convenient. But,' Grandpa said, staring at the garden soil wet with morning dew beyond the veranda, 'you have to check from time to time whether you have forgotten to be grateful for something in exchange for the ease you have gained. Whether it is water, food, or electricity—behind the things that are there as a matter of course, there is someone's hand, the sky, and the soil. If you forget that, I think people will gradually become thin.'

A bird chirps. The garden soil was wet with morning dew and shining. Shota took a slow sip of water. It was cold. Today, that made him a little happy. Morning light was swaying at the bottom of the glass. Shota felt a little grateful for last night's rain. The hand that turned the faucet was somehow more careful today.

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