Water blues and Property issues

For the past two days we have some 60 guests staying with us in the Provincial house. They are members of some prayer group gathered for prayer.  However, besides what they do for most of the day, invariably in the evenings and mornings our electricity circuit starts acting funny. That's because the guests have equipped themselves with immersion rods and very many of them are using it in their rooms - besides the already installed geysers at the end of each corridor.  When we have our own Salesian meetings this problem does not arise. Each one collects the hot water - those who want - from the end of the corridor.  But I guess used to living in independent houses, the guest-families tend to see their room as the world.  So each one wants to 'generate' hot water in the room itself and in the process deprive everyone, including themselves, of electricity itself!

Reminds me of Adam Smith - I'm not very sure if he's the one who said it though - differentiating private property and common property.  The water in the well is common property, but when I draw a bucket of water from the same well, that water in the bucket is 'my' water!  Now let me take it a notch up further: but when each one, rather than go to the well and draw out water, drills a 1000 ft borewell in one's own compound then that's greed - not sure if there's water even at that depth!  Very soon the day will come when every household will proudly boast of a borewell in their compound but mourn the fact that they do not have water!

There is enough for everyone's need but not for any one's greed. (Gandhiji)

The image is the cover page of a book written by Susan George