SICKNESS

Ball State University

We don’t mind if Daniel dies. Unable to breathe, blue lips, a chest caving in on itself, ready to pop like a zit from the pain. What matters more is being able to buy gas and gum and cigarettes from a man making minimum wage at Speedway.

We can paint the poor people as heroes. The high-school McDonald’s worker with no gloves or mask serving up your fries did not decide to risk her life for your McNuggets. She was given the choice between survive and not subsist or subsist and not survive.

We don’t care if Anna dies. A mother of three and grandma of one, whose wit and care and pumpkin bread and memories of camping with her granddaughter or exploring the sun-baked shores of Greece don’t matter. What matters most is money. And how bored we all would be holed up in our houses.