Every day of my life, I thank my lucky stars when I get up, go into my clean bathroom, and take care of business.
Some days of my life, I’m less thankful when I am somewhere where the only “facilities” have no running water. No handle to push. No way to wash my hands.
Of course, with my potty problems, I guess I’m more in tune to toilet issues than most people.
Why am I telling you this? You see, Thursday, November 19, is World Toilet Day. And of course, I’m (1) telling you about it; and (2) celebrating it.
A toilet stands outside the Llamocca family home at Villa Lourdes in Villa Maria del Triunfo on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo
The point of World Toilet Day is actually pretty important. People without access to hygienic facilities risk illness, many women are preyed upon and attacked as they seek out a place to go. Diseases are transmitted, including infections, cholera, well, here’s a picture.
The “F-diagram” (feces, fingers, flies, fields, fluids, food), showing pathways of fecal-oral disease transmission. The vertical blue lines show barriers: toilets, safe water, hygiene and handwashing.
Source Wikipedia
Hope you’re not eating.
World Toilet Day is to help the fortunate ones of us around the world realize that:
2.4 billion people around the world don’t have access to decent sanitation and more than a billion are forced to defecate in the open, risking disease and other dangers, according to the United Nations
We in the West are rather spoiled. And the reality of what some folks, many folks must deal with can be eye-opening.
About 25 years ago, my friend Ed got a grant and went to Africa to study something or other. It was his first experience visiting the Third World. When he came back, he talked only about poop.
It seemed that the city he had visited ran with raw sewage. Poop was in the gutters. Children played in those gutters. The sewage ran into the river that was used to irrigate crops.
Piles of poop were everywhere. In the street. Under trees. In the corners of buildings; everywhere, he said. Even inside. Ed described a memorable elevator in the middle of a hotel lobby, that he had seen. The decorative ironwork around the elevator shaft was delicate and beautiful. But the elevator didn’t run — in fact, the elevator itself had been removed. But people would stand with their backs to the elevator shaft, pull down their pants/up their skirts, hang their butts over the open elevator shaft. And they’d poop.
“I realized something incredibly important, “ said my horrified friend:
“Civilization all comes down to what you do with your poo”
So when you’re thinking about the craziness in today’s world, maybe we all need to realize that part of our problem is that so very many people just don’t have a pot to piss in.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
Okay, I’m thankful for plumbing. What has this country come to when we have to look to toilets for comfort? 😉
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It’s a strange world!
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What a great reminder of how much we truly have. Also, love that wrap up line.
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It’s something we forget to add into our pre-feast prayer every time!
Happy Thanksgiving, Peg!
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I applaud this message! That is exactly what it is all about. I know I’d be in trouble without that porcelain goddess in my home. I think I’ll go give her a nice shining just to show her how appreciative I am.
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At first I thought you left off the word “kiss” after shining — but I guess I was projecting 😉
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Hehehhehehheh…I’ll never tell.
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I cannot think of a better advocate for World Toilet Day. But this also reminded me of the days of gathering all the celebrations! … and thanks for the perfect use of a seemingly useless elevator shaft.
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I didn’t use it for that!!!! I can, in fact, truthfully say that I have never pooped in an elevator shaft!
And I miss those compilations, Frank!
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But if you are ever in the need to go and there happens to be an empty elevator shaft available, problem solved. In terms of my compilations, this post reminder me that I need to provide the links for those who want to know. I hope to give them in next week’s OITS (not the one coming later tonight).I can tell you that Friday is Name Your PC Day & Peanut Butter Fudge Day. … Damn … I still have it!
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Can I name my PC in honor of toilet day?!?!
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As long as you name it tomorrow and include that Toilet Day isn’t the same day.
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Sooooooooooo….I just finished eating right before reading this…
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Glad you’re done with the top end. Now for the lower one …
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I’m going to poop on your blog.
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You won’t be the first.
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Ha!
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Proper sewage removal is such a critical public health need. So sad that many still don’t have access to it.
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It’s true. And gross. As all the comments verify!
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I understand this is important but let me ask you this: How do you un-read something?
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Use a phone box? Blue I hear.
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If only. There’s a lot of stuff I’d fix. Not just un-reading this post.
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Yeah. Hopefully you’ll just forget about this post. At least until next year.
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I’m not bowing to my throne as much these days, thank heavens, but I am eternally grateful that I live in an area where there are adequate facilities wherever, and whenever, I need them. Although there have been times when I would have been more than willing to use an elevator shaft if nothing else was available.
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Oh I hear you on that, CM! Which is why, when that’s all there is, I sigh and go on into the porta-potty … ick. But not as icky as the alternative.
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I visited Greece in the 70s. There were the stalls with footprints and a drain (how do they maneuver without peeing on their shoes?) and at one spot they had a marble rest room where the toilets were automatic flush and the hand faucets automatically came on. I didn’t see that where I lived in the US at that time. It was such a contrast. As someone who is always aware of the nearest bathroom, I share your interest in these matters.
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Sounds like Japan when I visited recently. One day you’ll use the bathroom in a restaurant where every stall has a smart toilet with a heated seat and rainforest sounds coming from a speaker in the wall to politely mask the sounds of your bodily functions, the next you’re in a train station stall quickly changing clothes in the corner, as far away from the squat toilet set into the floor as you can manage…
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Yes! What is it about train stations — I was desperate once in Italy in a train station. Grossest experience of my life.
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Mid-clothing change I contemplated actually using the toilet just so I could say I’d done it, but in the end I figured I’d already crossed enough off my bucket list for one trip. You know, gotta save something fun for next time.
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And you don’t want to get cholera or hepatitis so there IS a next time!
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Rainforest sounds? I like that! Hate those floor things. My aim needs practice!
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Try using it when you’re having, umm, problems. It ain’t pretty!
Rainforest sounds do sound nice.
My mother actually toilet trained us by running the water in the bathroom. I curse her every single time I’m hiking in the woods near a stream. Every single time.
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Yes I’ve had those days although not with a floor drain. I don’t remember toilet training at all. I assume I must have been because I use a toilet but can’t tell you my mother’s technique.
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I know you share my interest, Kate. I think about 10% of my followers are rather toilet focused!
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🙂
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When as a boy we visited my mother’s relatives down on the farm the outdoor privy made a lasting impression on me. The standard design featured spaces between the wall boards for ventilation and a Sears catalog which did double duty. Hornets, spiders and flies were included at no extra charge.
Recently my blogging friends Jim and Melanie returned from an educational trip to Cuba. Their reports were interesting and revealing, but your post here, Elise, made me recall a surprising fact they revealed. The ordinary Cuban town does not have effective sewage infrastructure. The sewage system, such as it is, will not handle toilet paper and is discharged (somewhere) untreated. They didn’t say what the Cubans do with the paper.
Boy, am I glad we live here and not there. I’m also grateful that terrorists aren’t smarter about their targets. Instead of bars and nightclubs they could be attacking our water treatment, sewage and electrical infrastructure.
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Actually, until the terrorists figure out that all they have to do is order up a snowstorm in DC to totally cripple the nation, I think we’ll be OK!
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I was trying not to laugh as I read through this… 2.4 billion? No laughing matter there. My son recently participated in a service project at a large homeless shelter for men… one of his jobs was to clean up in the back lot… where he saw what he called “multiple communal piles of poop” as well as many containers filled with urine. And even though he said it was gross, he also said how bad he felt for the people who had to do that there… Really made him appreciate the simple convenience of a toilet, for sure.
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You’re allowed to laugh, Kelly. And cry, too.
I’m impressed with your son’s compassion. He obviously has a handle on “civilization” as Ed defined it!
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You write so humorously, yet the topic is so serious! I was surprised at his feelings as well… signs of emerging maturity that I’m happy to see (finally)!
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Can I get a transplant for my son? (I’m only kidding Jacob. I can see you’re maturing.)
But it is really a terrible thing — 2.4 billion is 1/3 of the population of the world. Horrible, sad statistic. I don’t often feel fortunate where potty stuff is involved.
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Yes – that statistic really is alarming! And I think creating awareness about it is a wonderful thing! Maybe you can volunteer as the poster child for potty awareness! LOL!
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Oh Lord …
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Ha!
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wait… I just read on Twitter that today is International Man Day… so we have the same day as the toilets???
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Maybe it’s to teach you all to put the seat down and flush. A win-win.
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good luck with that
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I grew up with two brothers. It is really not that big of a deal to me! All we have to do is look before we, umm, leap.
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HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I’m going to go kiss my porcelain throne now. (Air kiss, of course.)
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Good girl!
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I wonder how long it will take to fill that elevator shaft. I experienced a few horrifying situations with poop when I lived in Turkey. At the beach, I went to the public “restroom” to change into my swim trunks. It was an empty, cement room about 10′ X 10′ with a drain in the middle of the floor, and a hose laying on the floor. People pooped on the floor. The hose was for washing the poop into the drain. Poop was everywhere, because no one used the hose. It was difficult to find a clean spot to change into my trunks.
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Ewwwwww. And I though Turkish toilets were gross. Turkish non-toilets sound significantly worse.
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Elyse, sometimes you bring such a perfect perspective.
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It’s the angle seen mostly from toilet!
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To think I was upset when I realized that I’d have more people in my family than bathrooms in my house
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I grew up in a house with 7 people and 1 bathroom. I shudder!
But really, it’s only a problem if you allow them to eat and drink.
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How????
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God only knows! And me with poo problems!
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Ah, so that’s why the world can be such a shitty place.
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Yup. Stinks, doesn’t it.
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A new perspective to be thankful for! Thanks!
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It’s the little things …
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