Should you overlook the incredible importance of the common toilet in all our lives, allow me to remind you of the kind of crapper into which even a modern society can devolve absent this ingenious device. 

Worldwide, the human waste of many billions needs to be reorganized, integrated and recycled in a manner which allows for disease-free life to expand and prosper. Where waste is successfully processed on the massive scale necessary, toilets usually play a vital role. 

Where toilets are historically lacking, e.g. India, Africa, etc., humans are chronically debilitated by higher rates of disease and death. 

Consider the sheer scale of the problem worldwide—a staggering 4.5 billion people lack regular daily toilet facilities. 

Essentially, massive poverty and inequality explain why this vital sanitation continues to be lacking. But it might surprise you to know that it was only the middle of the 19th century, with the coming of indoor plumbing, that even people in New York City and Philadelphia finally were able to abandon heaving the contents of their chamber pots out of windows. 

There are other heroes in the sanitation saga. Like toilets, garbage workers are so fundamental, they are typically overlooked—unless they fail to do their jobs. In 1968, it took nine days of a labor dispute with no garbage pickups to turn Manhattan into a disastrous slum of filth with “garbage piled chest high.” 

Here and afar, the serious nature of sanitation and recycling efforts of many people allows for the massive task of organizing and collecting refuse that otherwise would limit and despoil our healthy environment. We owe much to the critical work of thousands of unsung neighbors and workers. Shout out to these many contributors who help make things reliably function each day. Please take notice.

John Pace
Honesdale, PA