Category Archives: Writing

Ever find yourself walking around a city, particularly during COVID-19, and need to go to the bathroom? And not be able to find one? Yeah, me too. And even before the pandemic, pretty much everywhere I’ve ever walked or biked a lot, going to the bathroom has been an issue. How is this possible? We can get into a box with wheels on it and go hundreds of miles in a matter of hours. We can get into another box with wings and go thousands of miles in a matter of hours. We can sit in front of another box and see people in less than a second that are as far away as humans have ever been from each other. How can we not, within minutes, find a box in which we can relieve ourselves? Part of the problem is the way that we solve problems. We sell people a solution that we can sell a lot of and then replace when that thing goes out. If one were to build bathroom infrastructure, it might need a little maintenance, but if it was built well, it’s a one-time solution sale. Our system doesn’t like that. That doesn’t add value to the economy, make GDP that much higher, or create lots of long-term capital gains. But if you’ve been in the situation I’ve described, it would clearly be of significant value. I’m sitting outside a coffee shop right now whose bathroom is out of order. Their coffee (and turmeric lattes) are delicious, but right now I’d pay more for a functioning bathroom than for a whole bag of delicious Costa Rican coffee beans. But I don’t have much to complain about. Rural New Jersey offers many places to get off one’s bike and relieve oneself among the deer (particularly if we’re only talking about number one). And still I wonder, when will our society transcend the nonsense of GDP and build bathrooms in the commons that are always open, even in a cold winter?