Scott and SadieWorld Toilet Day—mark your calendars for November 19th, folks! The United Nations has graced us with a day dedicated to the porcelain throne. Because, clearly, our lives were incomplete without a global celebration of the crapper.
This year’s theme is “Toilets are a place for peace.” Seriously? We’re now attributing world peace to where we drop a deuce? According to the UN, 3.5 billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practice open defecation. Apparently, the path to global harmony is paved with proper plumbing.
The UN urges governments to ensure that sanitation and water services are resilient, effective, accessible to everyone, and shielded from harm. Because nothing says “we care” like telling war-torn nations to focus on toilet infrastructure. Forget about food, shelter, or healthcare—let’s get those latrines up and running!
And let’s not overlook the call to action: “Be part of the global campaign called ‘Toilets – A Place for Peace’.” Yes, because what the world needs now is a hashtag movement about commodes. I’m sure tweeting about toilets will solve the sanitation crisis overnight.
In all seriousness, access to proper sanitation is a critical issue. But dedicating a day to toilets and slapping a kumbaya slogan on it feels like a half-assed attempt at addressing a complex problem. Maybe instead of catchy themes and observance days, we should focus on tangible solutions that don’t involve turning the loo into a symbol of world peace.
