To the editor:
Sadly, it is with close to certainty that my speaking up for the closing of the Becket spring will not change what is already done. My friend was given 11 months to live 16 years ago. Among the many things he taught me about physical health was drinking spring water. I’ve been drinking from the Becket spring for five years. I have been off bipolar medication for seven years.
I’ve heard, in addition to pathology-centric science, the spring was closed because, at a Becket town meeting, certain officials didn’t want “those” people stopping for spring water. A lot of “those” people have fewer financial resources and/or are Eastern European, so there’s also xenophobic and classist reasons for shutting the spring.
Lastly, that the water, some of the densest material, levitates through the earth, carving through granite, marble and quartz to emerge, always 40 degrees, winter or summer, is still a mystery to science. It is known that animals go out of their way to drink from springs and that our collective human history is built on reverence for springs.
With what is happening locally with Great Barrington’s water, to nationally with water protectors being vilified, it is quite emblematic of our times to cut off access to free water.
Luke Pryjma
Great Barrington
