Dear Jessie... thank you for this most interesting and moving (no pun intended!) analogy. This story did put a smile on my face as well as a very poignant cringe. I would absolutely abhor not having toilet paper especially in a public restroom. Not a nice thought at all!
For me, the story touched on many levels. Two main levels are that of practicality and the other on a more deeper spiritual level. I have concise it as follows:
PRACTICAL LEVEL
1. Always have a spare roll of toilet paper in any restroom especially if it is a temple as it truly does reflect poorly on the attitude of the temple and the people behind it (regular checks to ensure this especially during events or when there are typically larger crowds). If one cannot ensure that something simple as ample toilet paper is made available, what about other more pressing and important matters?
2. The bidet is a brilliant invention! To wash after one's business would ensure better cleanliness and as such not too much paper used to get the desirable result. That saves paper and hence our trees in the long run!
Numbers and little known facts:
It takes 48 full grown trees to make roughly 500 rolls of toilet paper. So using that number it takes about 1/10th of an adult grown paper tree to produce 10 rolls of toilet paper. A person uses at the very least 49 rolls of toilet paper a year. That is 5 trees a person!
Worldwide, the equivalent of almost 270,000 trees is either flushed or dumped in landfills every day and roughly 10 percent of that total is attributable to toilet paper, according to the latest issue of World Watch magazine.
"Meanwhile, growing populations, adoption of Western lifestyles, and sanitation improvements in developing countries are driving the increased use of toilet paper," the magazine added. "The result is that forests in both the global North and South are under assault by paper companies competing to fill consumer demand."
"Steadily increasing demand for toilet paper in developing countries is a critical factor in the impact that toilet paper manufacturer have on forests around the world," says author Noelle Robbins in a Worldwatch Institute news release. "And with the increasing pressure to reduce and discontinue the use of old growth forests, the move is on to tree plantations."
But according to Robbins, this cure could be worse than the disease, Worldwatch said.
"While the paper industry often touts plantations as the solution to creating an ongoing supply of virgin pulp and fiber, these monocultures often displace indigenous plant and animal life, require tremendous amounts of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and soak up large quantities of water.
"While some toilet paper manufacturers rely on forests, others turn to trash cans for their raw materials.
"Advocates of recycled toilet paper point out that converting virgin pulp to toilet paper requires more water than recycled paper and makes use of the tons of already used paper that fills landfills. Various estimates place the quantity of waste paper tossed into U.S. dumps and landfills at 35-40 percent of total landfilled mass."
"Toilet tissue, whether manufactured from virgin pulp or recycled paper, will continue to be an important part of daily life in Western countries and in developing countries emphasizing improved sanitation to mitigate health concerns," Robbins said.
"Education of consumers; improvements in quality, pricing, and marketing recycled products; and willingness to consider toilet paper alternatives such as water for cleansing must be pursued to meet the needs of a growing global population."
Sounds pretty bleak to me! Something as simple as toilet paper can and is the result of a much longer lasting repercussion than we could ever imagine. Ignorance if truly not bliss. This certainly falls under collective negative karma we as a human race is creating. It is no wonder we are spiraling out of control into a degenerate age. We really need Dorje Shugden The Uncommon Protector of Our Time on all levels. Imagine something as seemingly mundane as toilet paper has such negative impact, what more the other matters that are more severe!
SPIRITUAL LEVEL
1. The fact that someone actually used the last of the toilet paper and did not even think twice of alerting the temple is a clear sign of selfishness and uncaring attitude that is prevalent in all of us. Just because we had enough or we were fine we do not even bother to think of the "other" person. What we do not realise is that if everybody was like that, there will come a time when we will be the victim to that exact attitude. It is just a matter of time.
2. The story clearly makes us think beyond and not look at the situation at hand but a step further, Looking beyond ourselves. Focusing OUT so to speak and not just about ME ME ME! The situation could have been avoided at many levels if people just simply thought about others and not just about themselves. The twist to the story at the end about actually having some toilet paper left for himself/herself is really, I think, to illustrate that it does pay to think about others because it will benefit us in the long run too.
Perhaps a little lengthy a post on just mere toilet paper? I do no think so because, I find that if one looks deeper into something and contemplate on it, there are lessons to be learnt or at least shared. So thank you again Jessie for making me look at toilet paper (in this case the simple things in life we take for granted) in an entirely different light and manner!
And the really interesting thing is, it certainly makes me look at the ban and its implications and also the reasons and the disparity it is causing in a more objective and constructive manner!
