World Not Level

Guest Author, Sandra Miller

We Jamaicans often use the expression ‘donkey seh de worl no level’ (donkey says the world is not level). One can interpret this expression to mean that things aren’t distributed equally among us.  According to Jamaican folklore, the donkey rolls in an effort to flatten the earth and so make it even.  The donkey’s awareness and action symbolize people’s awareness of life’s inequities and man’s injustice to man.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, being in school allowed some children to feel like they were on the same level playing field, even if only for the few hours they were in school.  With schools being closed, what has become of the children who are unable to join in on online learning because of a lack of access to technology, whether it be to computers or the internet?  Are they now left to fall further behind their fellow classmates, thereby continuing the cycle of poverty in which they now exist?

What about people living in confined spaces, where social distancing is nigh impossible, or those living in rural communities or on tribal lands, where access to medical services is practically non-existent?  Is it okay for them to die?

When you look around and see the easy access to resources that some have, the excesses of some while others struggle day in and day out to eke out an existence, one can’t help but think that the donkey knows what he is saying.  The world, indeed, is not level.