Shirley's Spirit Element - WATER

---

Renewal. Peace. Belonging. Feeling at home. For some, it happens in the mountains. For others, in a desert. For me, it is the call of the water. The babbling brook. The raging river. The towering endless ocean. The hot shower. The grand thunderstorm with the sheeting rain. The refreshing glass of ice cold water on a hot summer day. The rain shower that can send me into giggles and laughter as I run for cover or into sheer ecstasy, stand in the rain and let it surround me. 

My profession tells me that water is the ultimate solvent, that I am 70% water, and that I need 2 L of drinking water to survive. It taught me that we used to believe that dilution is the solution to pollution. We waited for rain to wash away the pollution from our human hands. Our ancestors used water to provide the force required for industry activities. 

Natural rivers call to me. Rivers where humans live in the river's actions - where humans and animals fish for subsistence. Rivers where nature's floodplain still touches the water, where storms replenish the connection. 

But so do channels. Sailing down the Yangtze as a tourist to see the Three Gorges and the dam requires a channel that this ship can navigate. No longer do men have to pull boats over the rapids and rocky areas. Modern China means I can watch the amazing barge traffic moving raw materials and finished goods and people onto the rest of their journey. The Panama Canal, at the cost of thousands of lives, makes our modern life with the world’s goods on hand anywhere and at any time. The Mississippi River takes the fruits of our bread basket and spreads our bounty to the rest of the world.

Now, I’ll return to standing at the front of the cruise ship and letting my element soothe my soul.