V. E. Parfitt
What’s Missing Is the Element of Logic
Right outside my window
the world is going crazy
hoarding toilet paper for god sakes.
As if, in our North American, white privileged world
The toilet isn’t right next to the shower.
Hoarding toilet paper,
as if a clean ass is more important than a full belly.
Tell that to the Venezuelans,
who have been hungry for years.
Who feed their kids all the rice they get for a week by 8am.
Who feed 5 kids in a day
the amount of food you and I eat at a meal…breakfast maybe…or lunch.
Tell them you hoard toilet paper.
While they prostitute themselves, the women at least,
for an opportunity to move to the head of the line
at the farmacia.
While the world tilts and we fuss about our unruly kids
and see eternity stretching before us
because the school is closed for 2 weeks,
Venezuelan health care workers use paint buckets as toilets.
It doesn’t matter, there is no running water anyway.
And we are extolled to practice good hygiene and wash our hands.
But soap is non-existent in Venezuelan hospitals,
none of which is equipped to handle
a single case of coronavirus.
Not a single case.
V. E. Parfitt is an educational advisor at Delaware County Community College in Media, Pa., and lives in Lancaster County.
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