The woman who made a decision –and moved out of her comfort zone!
She was lost. She was thirsty. The dry hot air of the desert sands sapped her body’s remaining energy. She had just finished her last bottled water an hour past, and now, dazed and disoriented by thirst and her mental confusion, she saw the faint outline of a palm tree in the distance. “Was this an oasis?” she thought, as she gripped the steering wheel, frantically hoping against hope, that this small patch of greenery must have water within its boundaries. Cautiously, she moved closer, surprised and grateful that this was not a mirage. “No,” she thought to herself, her mind was not playing tricks. This was not one of those shimmering mirage images that fool desert nomads. This was real.
She pulled the car close to the palm tree, kept her eyes focused on the lonely tree and with surprise spotted what appeared to be a liter filled bottle of water leaning against the palm tree. She thought she felt a presence. “Was there someone else here?” She looked all around the small, garden-like area, expecting some desert stranger to come and claim their water bottle. Her thirst quickly brought her attention back to the water and the life saving elixir that was to be hers. Clutching onto the water bottle — she suddenly spied a handwritten note posted eye level, notifying the reader in large ink-black letters ” If you are reading this now, and are lost and thirsty, just know that there is water here. If you will look ten meters behind this tree, you will discover an ancient water well hand-pump which can be used to provide you water to get you safely on your way. You will be mentally and physically refreshed. But there is a catch,” the note continued: “You can either drink the water in the bottle now, believing it will get you through another day and night in the desert or you can choose to use this bottle of water, emptying it, down to the last drop, it will all be needed to prime the pump and bring the water to the surface. A warning must be given that the bottle has just enough water to bring ground water to the surface. You must choose one or the other.”
Now, with every last drop of water from the bottle, priming the pump, she began to put her hands to the pump handle and slowly began pumping with slow and regular vertical motions, with sweat-like beads flowing down her face. and her hands with a death-like grip on the pump handle, muscles in her arms starting to spasm, she felt a heaviness as the handle began to bring up, slowly at first, a thin ribbon of water, next a steady flow, with water forming a small pool around her feet. The water was cool. With a cupped hand she splashed the soothing liquid over her body and like a blooming desert rose, came alive.
The sun at its noon day station, its rays shining on the water filled bottle, prepared to give hospitality to the next thirsty desert nomad.
Hugh