According to my notepad, I had wanted to dictate an essay entitled “In Praise of Running Water and Flushing Toilets.” Further down on my notepad, I discovered an entry called “In Praise of the Forgettery.” These are different subjects but because I make the rules around here, it seemed to me that the two of them should be combined into one essay.
Let us start with running water and flushing toilets. If my memory is reasonably correct, I have lived in only one home that did not have running water and flushing toilets. Later, there were two adults and five children, I might also review that there were inordinate waits to use the flushing toilet, of which there was one. That brings me to the period between 1942 and 1945, when I was a soldier in the American Army.
A few years back I dictated an essay having to do with the five loneliest spots in my military career. They were Ascension Island; Atar, Mauritania; and Tindouf, Algeria. And then there were two locations in Southern Sudan named el-Geneina and el-Fasher.
Ascension Island belonged to the British and its main recommendation was that it was in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. But until the war, that is the Second World War, nobody ever went there. When the war happened, it turned out that the only way we could get the supplies to the fighting fronts in Italy and China was the southern route. That route started in Miami and the next stop was Bourincon Field, Puerto Rico. The next stop was Georgetown, Guyana, which is now an independent nation. Then it was on to Natal or Belém, Brazil. From that point on, there was first the ocean hop between the town of Belém and Ascension Island and following that the next take-off would lead you after another ocean hop – you hoped – to Accra in Ghana. From Accra the supplies would flow northward to the Italian theater and eastward to India and “over the hump” to the Chinese theater, where for some time we had hoped that the Japanese could be defeated with supplies flowing from India. That was later supplanted by the MacArthur doctrine of island hopping.
At any rate the point is that Ascension Island was not only lonely but the water resources were few and far between. At the station on Ascension Island, it was necessary to boil sea water. As you can imagine, there were signs up everywhere saying not to waste water. Before the war was done, I spent three separate nights on Ascension, either coming from or going to Africa or Brazil.
There was a second set of problems associated with the Sahara Desert and drinking water there. At the western edge of the Sahara, there was a town called Atar in Mauritania. It is often spoken of with its companion town of Tindouf, Algeria. In those two desert towns, water was a commodity of great value. I passed through Atar and Tindouf on at least three occasions. I did not presume to take a shower there. Our army presumed that transients such as myself had access to showers elsewhere, which meant that the permanent party at those two locations took a shower infrequently and the transients were largely out of luck.
The same rule would apply at el-Geneina and el-Fasher. Where the water came from in these desert locations as well as at Atar and Tindouf was a mystery to me. At these two southern Sahara locations, the same rule applied with respect to transients taking showers.
So you see, my experience at Ascension, Atar, Tindouf, el-Fasher, and el-Geneina leads me to this day to prize water in the highest possible category.
My research discloses that when the toilet in the United States is flushed, it uses at least one gallon of water. We are extraordinarily fortunate in having water at our command. In Europe, for example, flushing toilets use perhaps at least half that amount as compared to the United States. I still cringe when I see water being wasted. There is a home here in Short Hills which was watering the lawn late into January. And using my thoughts about the five loneliest towns in the world, this is wastage beyond description.
Well, we are lucky in having water to waste. But it may not be ever so. In my own case, I am on the side of water conservation in the hope that water will still be there to flush the toilets of tomorrow.
Well, that seems to take care of the water problem. Now let us turn to the second part of this essay, having to do with praise for the forgettery.
It seems to me that during the era of the McCarthy hearings, the prominent senator associated with McCarthy appeared at a hearing and, when asked a crucial question, he said that he did not remember. One of the gentlemen asking the questions said in effect that his forgettery was working overtime. I have remembered that remark for the better part of 50 years. And it seems to me that those of us in the advanced age category can praise the presence of the forgettery in our minds. There are promotions for example that we did not get but as time passed, we forgot about that sort of thing. We have our forgettery to be praised for the forgotten promotions. Likewise, we have our forgettery to thank for the women over the years that we did not make love to.
In current day terms, I suspect that Mitt Romney can hope that his remarks about the poor people at the bottom of the safety net will please be subjected to the forgettery process among the American electorate. Also, perhaps our collective forgettery will blot out the mis-spoken “self deport.”
I suppose that one of Romney’s main opponents, Newt Gingrich, has much to file in the forgettery process. But beyond the usual give and take with political charges, there was Mr. Gingrich’s belief that we should establish a colony on the moon as a means of beating the Russians, who would make the same attempt. I do not know of any Russian attempt to establish a colony on the moon. And I suspect that as time passes, Mr. Gingrich would be happy to put this in his forgettery file.
So there you have this double-edged story on forgetteries. In my own case, I would like to forget the experience of spending lonely nights at Ascension, Atar, Tindouf, el-Geneina and el-Fasher. And if providence is good to us, we may soon forget the wild charges of Newt Gingrich and his fellow aspirants to the Republican Party in pursuit of Barack Obama.
And so we cometh to the end of this combination essay in praise of running water and flushing toilets as well as the existence of the forgettery. It may well be that you will put this combination essay in your forgettery file. If that is the case, I will understand your sentiments.
E. E. CARR
February 4, 2012
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Posted because I can’t tease you with that intro post and then not at least publish the essay in question. Here, as with the previous essay, we encounter the problem that Pop has had a regular readership for a dozen years which is at least passingly familiar with him and his previous exploits, and he writes knowing that this is the case. It is possible that some readers will be confused when Pop references previous work in this fashion, and it is equally possible that they can just deal with it, because I can’t think of a better order in which to upload these. Perhaps I will endeavor in the future to hyperlink them all together, like Wikipedia.