Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water. -- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Man has lauded water perhaps since the beginning of time.

Lao Tzu (founder of Taosim 600-531 BC) said of water:

Nothing in this world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet then it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to withstand it."

Bible, Book of Ecclesiastes 1:7

All the waters run to the sea and yet the sea is not full, and from the place where they began, thither they return again.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

Leonardo DaVinci, 1452-1519

When the well is dry, we know the value of water.

Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac 1746

Rain! Whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones, and chisel to shapes of grandeur the very mountains.

Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887

Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.

Khalil Gibran, 1883-1931

The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man.

Charles William Beebe, Log of the Sun, 1906

Water has no taste, no color, no odor; it cannot be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself. It fills us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses.

Antoine De Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars 1939

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

Loran Eisely, The immense Journey, 1957

All the water that will ever be is, right now.

National Geographic, October 1993

Woman has had fun with it:

When a child is locked in the bathroom with water running and says he's doing nothing but the dog is barking, call 911.

Erma Bombeck, 1927-1996

Contemporary Gil Stern perhaps sums up man's relationship with water best:

Man is a complex being; he makes deserts bloom and lakes die.

Perhaps the bottom line is best summed up by the man who arguably knew earth's water the best...

We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one. - Jacques Cousteau

Sitting in one of the world's most water-poor countries where people use water as if they'd never heard the word drought, this year's Blog Action Day about water is especially meaningful. It is up to each of us to find ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In Jordan, water is perhaps our biggest place to make a difference. Let's all spend some time making water conservation and reuse part of our routine. And, on the bright side, it'll save money too!

For more information on Blog Action Day and how you can help bring clean water to the world, check out this website.

Happy Agua!