Freedoms No. 1 and No. 2

People take the little aspects of life for granted.

You know, the meaning of freedom and the never-know-what-you’ve-got-until-it’s-gone aspects. Like the new significant other who complains more than your ex or the class that requires you to write two times as many papers as that dreaded one last semester ... or the public toilet that costs nothing to use.

Oh, you’re still taking that one for granted? Well, you shouldn’t.

On a recent monthlong trip to Europe, I walked the streets of Venice, Italy, guided by an elderly woman who was born and raised in the city that floods more than a clogged shower drain. My Venetian tour guide put European bathrooms in the simplest terms possible.

“One pee-pee, one euro 50,” she said. “I’m sorry, but it’s quite expensive.”

With the conversion rate, that’s about two bucks and a quarter per tinkle. Makes one think twice about having to use a public restroom in Europe. It also makes one treasure the porcelain god in those freedom states to the west.

The freedom of using the important plumbing fixture is not the only good part of the United States. Although Greeks invented anchors, steam engines and half the words in the dictionary, they never managed to invent a solid infrastructure system for their country and its small villages.

Want to talk about freedom? Let’s talk about the freedom to wipe and drop. Because in Greece, the toilets can’t handle those absorbent little tissues down their drains; therefore, a wastebasket is provided for throwing toilet paper away.

But what makes all these bathroom issues a problem? Drinking liquids.

And for Europeans, beer and wine seem to be the extent of their liquid intake. It’s understandable when a beer is cheaper than a pop by about two euros. But, for some Americans who intake water like it’s going out of style, Europe is not the place to try to follow the doctor’s orders of eight glasses a day.

Water in Europe is defined differently in every country, much like pop, soda pop or Coke is around the United States. But from London to France to Italy, there is no such thing as a free glass of water. No “still” water comes from the tap of the restaurant; the water “without gas” is always given in a bottle and usually is more expensive than the alcoholic beverages.

So when you stand on the sidelines during the Hoosiers’ first football game and you sing that line, “O’er the land of the free,” stand tall and proud and thank the stars and stripes for defining the word “freedom” in every little aspect of our American lives.