I am grateful that when I turn on the tap, I have immediate and unlimited access to fresh water.

It arrives at the temperature you asked for, in whatever quantity you want, cleaner than most water any king ever drank, and the whole transaction costs under a second of thought.

Behind it: reservoirs, treatment plants, pumps, and people on night shifts making sure a city doesn't get sick. An enormous invisible apparatus whose main achievement is being forgotten.

Most infrastructure is like this. You only learn it existed the week it fails.

Next time you fill a glass, let it take two seconds instead of none. Not out of guilt about people who lack it — just to register that something extraordinary is happening at your sink.