Dangerous water

The view over Greenland

As I've written before, travel between islands is often a stressful and unpredictable undertaking. But I haven't really mentioned the international airport in detail. Actually, I won't discuss its details even in this post... but instead I'll talk about a particular aspect of it that I find crazy-making.

You know how, in American airports, you go through security? At security you take off anything metal, remove your baggy of liquids for screening, along with shoes, electronics, and coats. It's a pain, right?

Then you get to the other side of security and are thirsty, but you don't want to spend $2-4 for a bottle of water. So if you're like me, you take an empty bottle, or drink the water in your bottle and carry the empty through to fill up on the other side.

Do you do that too?

Well, you'd better not try doing that here at our islands' international airport. Not allowed.

Bringing an empty water bottle through? Not allowed. They'll happily throw away the bottle for you, but you certainly aren't permitted to bring an empty bottle through security. What if you wanted to take water on the plane?

But what if your water bottle is one that you buy without water in it? (think: Nalgene) Well that's fine. Why this and not that? That's the rule, miss.

Oh, and you want to buy a bottle of water after security to take on the plane? They'll happily take your money, open your bottle of water, and confiscate the cap so you're not tempted to carry water onto the plane.

That dangerous water.

Abundant, or Sufficient?

I remember the headline and my reaction to it:

The Generators Have Arrived. When Will Power be Abundant?

Well, other than the clumsiness of the long title, the idea of abundant power seemed impossible. We'd been having fairly consistent power, and that seemed extraordinary enough. Most mornings we'd get 2-3 hours and every evening we'd get 3-6 hours. With planning and being home at the right times, it really wasn't a problem. 

But new generators for the island had arrived and we were eagerly awaiting the time when they would be put to use. First we waited for the right parts to install them, then for the president to arrive and flip the switch.  The promise of abundant power was elusive. 

The day finally came. Since April we've had almost 24/7 power. An abundance. Do you ever think about the fact that you have more electricity available than you need? The opposite is rather more obvious-- if your phone isn't getting enough hours of power to stay on during the rest of the day, well, that's a pressing matter. Here on the island I've finally gotten used to the idea of not plugging my phone in every time the power's on, because there is more power coming than I need.

Abundance. What a blessing it is!

But sufficiency is oftentimes underrated. I have enough food, but not the choices that I want. Or I have enough water to do what I need to do, but not enough pressure to take a shower. Or enough supply to take a long shower. I have enough technology to call friends and colleagues and communicate back home, but it fails to function at the speed I desire. 

Sufficiency is underrated. Abundance is taken for granted. But both are blessings from above! Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, and, although I'm not Canadian, it's a great day to be thankful for what He's given.

What have you been given a sufficiency or abundance of?