I have had the advantage in my life time to see the transitional aspect of the "little house outback" to the more lavish bathrooms inside the home or public buildings. For years, my family had an outhouse that did not even have a door, let alone piped in music, automatic hand dryers, and even water. If we were fortunate, an outdated Sears, Roebuck, and Company catalog was placed on the cold wooden seat. The catalog served a dual purpose, one to entertain and the other was a source of toilet tissue. Surprisingly, the ladies lingerie section of the catalog was always the last section to disappear as it also served as a resource center for my brothers and myself.

The "privy" has always been a focal point, most of us have taken children into a restaurant and regardless of whether they have to use the "john" or not, they just have to take look at the bathroom. When water was brought into the house, it opened up so many opportunities, including flush toilets. In the public restrooms, someone decided that we should incorporate elevator music into the restroom, just to soothe our stress level wondering who was sitting on the seat prior to us. They then devised a way to ease our fears of this problem by providing tissues to sit on. This did ease our fears about coming into contact with "germs" that someone else may have left behind, but gave it no consideration as we grab the door handle to exit the facility not realizing that the last person had not washed their hands prior to using the same door knob. With the soothing music, pictures on the wall, carpeting, air fresheners, and there are even those that have an attendant that will hand you a towel and keep the sinks clean.

Now we have taken the next step into the future "public privy", to completely take your mind off of our original intentions, you can spend half the day in the restroom being entertained and looking at the objects of "natural art". I would just as soon see the old catalogs become part of the bathroom inventory, at least the fantasies were your own and you did not have to share them with anyone else.



Now, I know there are some ladies out there that are going to scream sexist remarks about the modern decor of the "men's room", personally, I have a tendency to agree with you! That was until I took a quick peek inside the "ladies room". It seems that we are all equal when it comes to the bathroom.