Almost every morning, I awake, rise out of bed and stumble to the bathroom, where I splash my face with cold water, brush my teeth and step into a shower of hot water before beginning my day. Chances are many of us do the same. Someone reminded me last week how I, and perhaps many of you, may take that hot water for granted.

As a middle-class American, I have luxuriated in things that I have taken for granted for most of my life, without giving their availability a second thought. Even before waking, I have slept in a warm bed with a firm but comfortable mattress, covered with sheets, a light blanket and a designer bedspread.

I've had heat through the cold nights and cool air through the hot and humid ones. I step onto a solid floor into bedroom shoes that wrap my feet and cushion my steps. I turn on not one but a multitude of light bulbs that brighten the bathroom. And when that hot water begins to flow out of not just an ordinary shower head but one of those fancy heads with multiple settings, I rarely give a second thought to the fact that I even have hot water.

As it washes over me, I begin thinking about my day, looking ahead to responsibilities, mulling over personal concerns for family and friends, dwelling on a particular decision I may have to make, organizing household projects. You name it; I'm thinking about almost anything other than the fact that I am blessed to be standing in a shower of hot water for generally as long as I choose, given that I have a timetable for arriving to work on time and can't stay there until the hot water runs out.

I generally think of myself as a grateful person. Then someone comes along and reminds me that my gratitude often fails to include the very basics of my life that I take for granted. These basics are often what I and millions of other middle-class Americans refer to as the necessities of life. For far too many Americans, and for people living in poverty throughout the world, a hot shower is not a necessity; it may not even be basic to their lives.

The question I then am prompted to ask myself is whether hot water is a necessity. It's a convenience, certainly. It can also provide health benefits. Soaking in warm water causes blood vessels to dilate, increasing circulation. It can relax muscles and provide relief to aches and pains in the joints. Sometimes a warm bath can ease away emotional tension and help prepare you for a good night's sleep.

But is it a necessity? A young Texan, writing from his home in the mountains of Panama, tells us: "Things have hit the desperation point and I am now willing to wait half and hour for a pot of water to heat up on the stove. I take that and mix it with cold water to get a perfect temperature and have been taking bucket baths like that for a very long time now.

"So why do I write this little article? I write it for all of you who have hot water and are able to enjoy it every day. The next time you take a hot shower think about what a wonderful life you have! There are people around the world who would love to possess the ability to use hot water whenever they desired."

The young Texan has chosen his path, but he has learned that hot water is not a necessity. He tells us that people all around Panama take cold showers every day, especially in the hottest and most humid areas of the country. Living in the mountains, however, renders a different climate where hot water showers would certainly be better.

He has a message for us. So did the speaker I heard last week. Hot water is not a necessity; yet every day I take for granted that it will be there, ready to prepare me for another day. Hot water is a blessing, not a necessity, and as we approach the Thanksgiving season, I needed to be reminded to think more deeply about the blessings in my life.

Harris Murray is director of library services at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. She can be reached by e-mail at writeharris55@yahoo.com.

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