Think About the Drink

I washed my hair by a mountain stream once. We were backpacking for an entire week and I stunk. So I took an impromptu bath, rinsed my hair in the stream, and watched the bubbles drift downriver.

Didn’t give much thought to the hikers who would be collecting water from that same stream down below.

We live our lives with that same thoughtlessness. “I can live any way I darn well please. To hell with the rest of you.”

We wouldn’t say that out loud, or maybe even think it. But it’s how we live.

It’s what we do when we buy clothes made in third-world countries at the expense of someone else’s near-slave labor.

It’s what we do when we sip rich coffee grown and harvested by the sweat of people who will see almost no income for their efforts.

It’s what we do when we buy products that can’t be easily recycled. When we carry them home in plastic bags. When we toss away the glossy packaging and eventually the item itself with its non-degrading plastic and toxic chemicals.

It’s what we do when we treat the waitress that way. Or the co-worker. Former friend. Husband. Wife. Child.

What’s your trickle down? What are you dumping in the river for others to drink? What lives are impacted by your actions? Take a long, hard look downstream.