OPINION: Our grandparents didn’t walk around with water bottles

You have probably seen it on a television newscast. There’s a political announcement, a press conference, a briefing — something where important public figures come on stage to tell us something.

Have you noticed what some of them are holding in their hand as they walk to their seat? Have you noticed what is on the table where they sit? No, it’s not binders or folders or writing pads or pens. It’s single-use plastic water bottles or glasses of water.

I was watching a recent TV newscast where the premiers were meeting with the prime minister and there were glasses full of water in front of every politician. You’ll see ordinary people at meetings with water bottles at hand. Everyone, it seems, has water with them.

Now I ask you the question, did our ancestors and forefathers walk around with water bottles in their hand? I will admit water is a much better choice than carrying around a can of pop. But are people thirstier than our ancestors?

People carry water bottles for constant hydration. Health guidelines suggest drinking between 2.7 to 3.7 liters of fluid daily. People carry water to meet these goals, improve skin, flush out toxins, boost energy. Boost energy? You’ll see volunteers man water stations at running events (race weekends) where exhausted runners can drink water and hope to continue on to the finish line.

How things have changed from when I was a long distance runner in my high school days back in 1963 and 1964. Our school running team would do a 5-6 mile practice run after school and there were no water stations along the way. No paramedics anywhere in sight watching for over-exhausted runners. When we got back to school our coach would let us have two mouthfuls of water to flush our mouth and spit it out and then we could have one mouthful to swallow. Consuming too much water, he warned us, would make us weak and sluggish.

I recently watched some documentaries on the History and National Geographic channels on the Second World War and I was keen to see if there were water containers on the table at the Yalta Conference in Feb. of 1945 when Stalin, Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt met. Not a cup or glasses or anything. Roosevelt sat there looking frail and was coughing and chain smoking cigarettes. He looked like he could use an aspirin and a few glasses of water. For energy, maybe. He died two months later at age 63.

I watched closely at the Potsdam Conference that took place in August of 1945 with Stalin, Churchill and the American President Harry Truman. I spotted one cup and saucer. Someone must have had a cup of tea. No water containers or glasses in sight.

I watched the Big Three Leaders at the Tehran Conference held in Tehran, Iran in 1943. No drinking water at that meeting either.

Okay, no water glasses in sight but Scotch whiskey was available at all three tripartite conferences during the war years when the Big Three Leaders met. Someone must have cleared the whiskey off the tables before photos were taken.

Surely I could catch someone with a glass of water or a cup of tea or coffee. I looked closely at a meeting where General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bernard Montgomery, known as Monty, George Patton and Omar Bradley were discussing war strategies to see if they needed to wet their lips with water. Not a glass or a cup anywhere.

Times have changed. Water bottles have become a massive global industry, driven by status marketing, lifestyle branding, and shifting consumer habits. A friend of mine tells me his daughter, a Generation Z, carries around a very elegant water bottle that she bought for $65.

For Gen Z, water bottles are the ultimate “it-girl” accessory, functioning as a mix between a handbag, a status symbol, and an emotional support anchor. This obsession is driven by a massive focus on wellness, “romanticizing” everyday routines, and the psychological comfort of having an emotional anchor on hand at all times.

To understand how trendy drinking water has become, just look at the proliferation of water bottles. Some have become status symbols and travel companions, as people personalize them with stickers and tote them everywhere they go.

But you would think Winston Churchill constantly smoking those big cigars would need a glass of water that was within reach.

Maynard van der Galien is a Renfrew-area farmer and a long-time columnist with Farmers Forum.