“Quarantine Diaries,” by David Garyan (Day 38)

Quarantine Diaries – Day 38 April 21st, 2020

Trento, Italy

Democrazy

Too much food is growing for humans to eat, but not enough breeds for people to buy. Tomatoes are still born from the earth, but picked from rich people’s pockets. Apples remain hanging from trees, but the branches seem like closed fists. In fact, they're just outstretched hands which won't let you steal— much less reach for and take from. Order and progress are fed like caged pigs, but in fact what they are is meat on four legs— ready to eat. Milk no longer belongs to the cow, and the cow no longer belongs to itself. Bodies are paid to be slaves when they can’t be sold into slavery. Where’s the justice in that? Doctors must cure so they, themselves, can afford a doctor one day. Soldiers, likewise, must fight until they need to be rescued. The wealthy load weapons with vaccines, and after the loading, they send them to Africa, while those without cures must fight their own famines. The rights to your mind, and even the body, are severed like diplomatic relations ... no, torn apart like treaties between two countries resuming their war. Hunger is no longer the gun begging its government for bullets— it’s an army without rations, promising democracy. Freedom? What’s freedom? Is it really a one-way street named with a palindrome?