“Nothing creates cool like scarcity.” – Neil Blumenthal
I wouldn’t mind having those 13 rolls of toilet paper that Scamp destroyed in the early months after I rescued him. — Photo by Pat Bean
I just finished reading Monkey Dancing by Daniel Glick, which is about the father taking his 13-year-old son and his nine-year-old daughter on a trip around the world to see the wonders of this planet that are disappearing.
It was a trip that opened his children’s eyes to how humans are desecrating our planet, and how the poor and unprivileged in many countries eke out their daily lives. It’s a trip, at least in my tree-hugger-peace-loving-eyes, that would benefit many, especially home-owning Americans.
I know my eyes were opened and appreciation for my own life increased dramatically when I saw Maasai women daily walking miles across Africa’s lion country to fetch water.
What horrified Glick’s teenage son most on the trip, however, were instances when he had to use primitive bathroom facilities that lacked toilet paper, or even toilets. He worried so much about this that he made sure to always carry some of the behind-wiping tissue with him wherever he went.
I thought about that this morning on my 6 a.m. walk with my canine companion Scamp. One of the quaint, a bit off for sure, old guys who live in my apartment complex passed me carrying a huge package of toilet paper.
As advised because of the Corvid-19 virus currently sweeping across the planet, I kept my distance.
Scamp, before I could stop him,, went in for a hug and a scratch behind the ears, which the man always gives him. Not sure if this was OK or not, but I washed my hands thoroughly when I got back to my apartment.
Anyway, after giving Scamp attention, the red-faced and slightly tipsy man waved the large bundle of toilet paper at me – “I’m going to sell this for $20 a sheet,” he said.
I’m not sure he was kidding.
Bean Pat: If we were sharing coffee https://collinesblog.com/2020/03/22/weekend-coffee-share-one-week-done/ Living with social distancing.
Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.
Pat Bean's blog 
Unfortunately, dear Pat, there are so/too many people who try to make a profit out of this dire situation. There is that guy in Tennessee, who, at the beginning of this crisis, went touring with a U-Haul trailer and bought every single bottle of hand sanitizer he got get hold of, to sell it at exorbitant prices on E-Bay. Well, E-Bay didn’t allow that, and now he’s sitting on 17,000 (!!) bottles which are direly needed by others! And the there are the two members of the House of Representatives who went to a briefing on the Corona Virus and immediately after that got rid of their stock in vulnerable companies, making between $500,000 and 1 million, but did not, in spite of having been correctly informed, contradict Trump when he spread falsehoods.
What world are we living in?!
Well, on the other hand, there certainly is solidarity.
Stay healthy,
Pit
Thanks Pit. While I finally accepted that life is not fair, I am still convinced that what goes around comes around – and nothing so far has diminished my belief in karma. You stay safe, too.
I believe in two paragraphs of the “Cologne Basic Law”. In our dialect:
– et kütt wie et kütt
– et ess noch ömmer jood jejange
Translated:
– things come as they come
– it has always turned out well
;))
Thank you for sharing my post Pat.
Living in a first world country with enough to eat and drink, we often don’t appreciate what it is we have. Even the roof over our heads is something to be grateful for. I have always admired the African women living in Africa – they are the backbone to their communities.