#Rationing

Distribution is the ritual of dividing scarce resources in top-down portions, compelling the recipients to gratefully accept scraps. Citizens queue for hours, surrendering their fate to numbered tickets. While the word “fairness” is lavishly proclaimed, some pockets grow heavy and some stomachs rumble. The powers that be christen it a “gesture of compassion,” and the rationed call it “practice for tomorrow’s begging.” Reservations are impossible, and regrets pile high.