The bathroom. A scientific wonder.

Have you ever thought about toilets?  How they work.  What they do.  What they’re made of.  Who, for instance, decided that a toilet seat should be 15” off the ground?  Why is an accessible height toilet taller?  If you have an interest, let me know and I’ll send you some articles to read.

What is fascinating to me is how different cultures respond differently to defecation and the removal of fecal waste.  Pooping and flushing.  We here in America take the approach that if we don’t talk about it or acknowledge it, it doesn’t really exist.  Really, once you’ve been potty trained, do people ever ask you how your last poop was.  It even seems creepy or awkward when the doctor asks you about your last poop.  I thought it amusing the other day when the guys on the radio were shocked to learn that a woman may poop when she’s delivering her child.  Duh.

In Japan, they are much less poop adverse.  In fact, pooping is now as technologically advanced as the smart phone you keep your grocery list on.  Super high tech, self cleaning, integrated heating and air conditioning, multimedia pooping! 

So in planning your bathroom remodel, where do you place the importance of pooping?  Is it an all night library session when you finally have the chance to read the day’s paper (like it is for my Dad)?  Or is it a covert spy operation where all evidence self destructs thirty seconds after initiation?  Do you like to poop in seclusion, where the toilet is so far from civilization that you need a map and compass to get there, or do you like to poop and still be a part of the conversation?  I’ve seen bathrooms with no doors.  How do you feel about that?  Where does pooping fit into your world view?  Should your poop be fueling an ecological revolution, or would you rather it disappeared quietly, never to be heard of again, like a government witness under protection? 

I like the thought of making the bathroom the MOST uncomfortable room in my house.  I think I’d like to line the floor, walls and ceilings with mirrors and bright lights so that when you were in there pooping, you couldn’t escape from yourself pooping.  Then maybe dad wouldn’t spend so much time in there when he visits and my daughters would take shorter showers.