The Complex and Simple Correlation of Water and Life - Movie Review Example

The Complex and Simple Correlation of Water and Life Water is life. This is one of the most clichéd depictions of the importance of this element in the existence of living things not only in this planet but also in our vast universe. Science, religion, poetry and the humanities place water in the upper echelons of their disciplines because it is essential both in actuality and also in symbolism. Yet what makes this substance seems ironically dismissible is its deceitful abundance. We have so much of it yet so little to consume. Unmindful depletion of this wealth of nature seems the worst ignorance or negligence that a man of plenitude might commit but a worse than worst level actually exists. It is the tendency of the affluent to look at water just as water- a commodity to be consumed- nothing more and nothing less. When Charles Banda said that “Water is life” he meant it differently from most of the western world would perceive it to be. He meant it literally. The film Water First: Reaching the Millennium Development Goals showed viewers how devastatingly essential water in every aspect of human existence. More than a basic commodity to sustain life, water, is an essential element to any form of progress. The simplicity of this fact coupled with the abundance of this resource in our part of the world tends to throw us off perspective. After all, the process of development can be pictured as steps of a ladder. How can one hope to rise to the second step without the necessity of overcoming the first hurdle? Water, food, clothing and shelter belong to that inevitable first step. Sometimes the simplest of truths give us realizations of a lifetime. After watching Water First, I cannot help but repetitively ask myself why it needed a film to make me realize how vital water really is. The fast-paced life in arguably one of the wealthiest nations on earth allows most of us to have the blessing (or curse) to jump off several steps in the ladder of development and think of more complicated issues facing society such as nuclear disarmament, global peace, or fiscal reforms. The thousands of years of human civilization brought us advancements in all aspects of life- standard of living, infrastructure, governance, education, and it even sky-rocketed in technology. In 2015, NASA even aims to reach Mars and explore the possibility of life in our most famous neighboring planet. But in Malawi, after all these years, the only thing that preoccupies most people’s minds is still survival. Amy Hart and Hart Productions successfully showed that there is indeed an essential connection between the existence of clean drinking water and the achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), at least in the case of Malawi. I thought that the absence of access to clean drinking water hindered the achievement of MDGs pertaining to health the most. It is common knowledge that most humans would not survive three days without water and water is a necessity for survival. That being said, Malawians would have to make good with what they have to aid their existence. Evidently, they drink the infected water because they have no choice. Unsurprisingly, this unfortunate circumstance brings about waterborne diseases and ultimately death. Without the nutrition that they need, children would become the vulnerable victims of this fate. The lack of clean water, being a bigger problem, almost presupposes the lack of proper hygiene and sanitation, not to mention the lack of proper structure there for. The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is almost as ominous as the inaccessibility to clean drinking water. For one, food is also a basic necessity to sustain one’s existence. However, the inaccessibility of clean drinking water is to my mind a more crucial problem than the former. We have known from biology that man can survive longer without food than without water. Although they are both essential I feel that water is more basic than food and that it has more profound effect in sustaining life not only of man but of other living things as well. I thought Water First illustrated this fact best when it linked water with the cultivation of crops that can address both poverty and hunger. The goals on achievement of universal primary education, gender equality and environmental sustainability, on the other hand, are offshoots of the ultimate problem of the inaccessibility of basic needs for survival. It is pitiful yet highly understandable why the progress of nations such as Malawi is so out of reach. Again, how can one even think of anything else- gender equality, environmental stability, career advancement, if staying alive the next day is still uncertain? Clean Water, Global Issues and Human Rights Each person has the right to life, liberty and property. The right to life guarantees that every person would not be denied with the basic needs of existence. However, it does not only pertain to the existence of a person per se but is also concerned with the quality of life itself. Thus this right embraces within its ambit an opportunity for every person to have a decent kind of life. Decency, as a level, is definitely above survival. Having that as the accepted perception of the right to life, the United Nations in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, did not find the need to categorically specify a right to water since it felt that it was deemed necessarily included (2003 1). As it turned out, the supposedly “given” right to water needed more legal backing than originally thought of. People of nations, which lacked accessibility to clean water, were not afforded by their innate right to water. Their governments could have been blinded by the same blindness that affected the rest of the affluent world. This is the tendency to label problems as the complicated ones and ignore the simpler yet more central concerns. It cannot also be denied that the challenge that Malawians face regarding the accessibility of clean water was brought about by the failure of their government to manage their limited resources well. A remote problem as compared to the inaccessibility of the clean water is the inability of governments of third world nations to follow through with their own projects and the projects initiated by the global community for their sake. Although it was undeniable that there were still areas in Malawi that needed borewells and latrines, we saw in the movie that there are some areas where there were nonfunctioning water pumps. Thus, the small step toward overcoming the “survival mode” with the existence of the pump was undoubtedly relegated to temporary solution to a pressing problem. The existence of the pump and the clean water became a catalyst toward a better kind of life for the Malawians in that area. It has almost unshackled them from the bondage of day-in-day-out survival. It gave them hope, only to be taken away by inefficiency and possible corruption in the end. United Nations’ efforts and the Relationship of Water and Human Rights As a response to the overwhelming clamor to explicitly declare a right to water, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights affirmed that access to adequate amounts of clean water for personal and domestic uses is a fundamental human right of all people in November 2002 (2003 2). This declaration has strengthened the definition of the right to life, as a right beyond human survival. Somehow it assured each person access to his needs and guaranteed beyond doubt that the right to life is really above any other right of man. The acknowledgement of the United Nations of the right to water may have prompted governments and other institutions to work hand-in-hand toward providing access to clean drinking water to those who need it. This declaration definitely brought initiatives toward this objective in priority lists of governments. However, where almost all policies fail, the United Nations could have done a better job in monitoring the progress of nations such as Malawi in their ongoing battle not only against thirst but also against the string of global issues that ripple down from this critical failure of providing the very basic of human needs. Clearly, the biggest problem in Malawi with regard to the access of clean drinking water is not the lack or absence thereof per se but the lack or absence of the necessary tools and knowledge to get hold of and manage the resources that they have, no matter how limited. Our world is full of intelligent persons who can create plans for the furtherance of life for generations to come. The loose end almost always falls on the execution. Together with civil society, NGOs, and concerned citizens of the world, all we actually need is the will to make it happen. More than anything, Water First brings to us the realization that sometimes the global community becomes so overwhelmed with its intersecting problems that it fails to address the most basic of concerns. I thought Water First begs us to reconsider our priorities and make us ask once again whether water needed to be the solution in the first place. Ultimately, I thought, the inaccessibility of clean drinking water should have been dubbed as the main problem. We might have had a different list of MDGs because of this. A Real Eye-Opener I would definitely recommend the film Water First especially to educational institutions all over the world. My recommendation gives additional emphasis to the affluent nations and to the youth. It is true that the principle “survival of the fittest” applies to us humans as one of the many species of this world. However, what makes us different from the rest is that we are capable to go beyond mere survival toward achieving a harmonious co-existence with our fellow men. By watching this film, viewers would realize that the efforts of one can make a big difference in the lives of unfortunate people like the Malawians in this case. The story of Charles Banda is a story of the triumph of the human heart so willing to give and help improve the lives of these people. It is a strong testament to the belief that with the right people and appropriate help, no problem would turn out to be insurmountable. Water First has the potential to change how people of the affluent world look at their poorer counterparts. It is almost certain that the wealthy would thank their lucky stars for not being able to experience the hard life that the people of Malawi, especially girls and women, go through in order to survive. Hopefully the jolt does not stop there. Hopefully, viewers would have the motivation to go a step further to help this cause and make a difference. Contributions do not necessarily be monetary or as great as that given by advocates such as Banda and Hart. A simple commitment to avoid a life of wastages could be enough, but if one can find it in his heart to give more, the better. Works Cited Primary Hart, Amy, dir. Water First: Reaching the Millennium Development Goals. Bullfrog Films. 2008. Film Secondary United Nations Department of Public Information. The Right to Water: Backgrounder. February 2003. Retrieved from: http://www.un.org/events/water/TheRighttoWater.pdf Read More