“The moral progress of a nation and its greatness should be judged by the way it treats its animals.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
While I think that perhaps Gandhi had a point, I wonder if he ever imagined that we in the United States (and other western nations) would squander the amount of resources that we do on our pets. I am sure he was including food animals in his statement as well, maybe even wild animals, and so I believe that if the United State’s greatness was judged by the way we treat our animals we’d probably not be considered so great.
But I don’t agree so much with Gandhi. I think a country’s greatness should be measured by the quality and the quantity of its toilet paper. America is truly the land of toilet paper milk and honey.
Have you ever traveled internationally? If you have, depending on where you went, you will probably be nodding your head in agreement with me when I say that the U.S. has the awesomest and most available toilet paper that the world has to offer. How often in a foreign country is there no T.P. (let ALONE seat covers) in the airport? Is there EVER T.P. in the bathroom at the gas station (if there IS a bathroom available for public use at the gas station)? At restaurants where there often IS T.P., isn’t it often rough and oddly colored? You know what I’m talkin’ about! Do any of you, like *I* do, always have a roll of T.P. in a ziplock tucked in your backpack when traveling out of the country?? (And wet wipes, too). The worst toilet paper I ever used was in St. Petersburg, Russia, about 10 years ago. It was milky grayish purple, unevenly cut, and about a #180 grit. More like crepe paper. Pretty much like this, only change the color:
I had to look through most of the stalls to find even that. And this was at a cultural and performing arts center! The best non-American T.P. I have ever used was in Malawi, Africa. Malawi aspires for greatness and realizes that without great T.P., this is a pipe dream.
I recently watched “Sicko” for the first time. I do not plan on dissecting all of the issues and problems in and about that movie. Save one smallish little thing. Michael Moore holds Cuba up as a bastion of excellence in socialized health care. But what I want to know is, how can a country that runs out of toilet paper even begin to reeeeealllly be considered great in the health care arena??? The Cuban government slashed the amount of imports it’s allowing and has fallen short of the raw materials needed to keep its citizens in T.P. These beleaguered Cuban citizens may not see it on the shelves of the local CommuMart again until NOVEMBER!!! The government is encouraging people to use cigar wrappers as an alternative. How hygienic can that possible be? Oh, and in case you missed it, that also means they are encouraging smoking. Just how many cigars do the parents of a family of four need to smoke in order to keep up with the toilet paper needs? It’s too bad that Michael Moore wasn’t making his film during a T.P. shortage…perhaps his take on things might have been a little bit different.
Can a country who rations and runs out of T.P. really enjoy unlimited access to top-notch health care? I somehow doubt it. So let’s just stop comparing our health care to theirs. And BTW (by the way), most of westernized and socialized europe doesn’t have such great T.P. either.
I’m just saying…
…
Like this:
Like Loading...
