Do you remember “our turn” for milk?

2025-01-26 16:10:00, Opinione Kreshnik Spahiu

Kreshnik Spahiu

It was 4:30 in the morning. My father woke me up and I quickly got dressed. I grabbed the milk bottles and ran down the stairs to the dairy shop.

I was very sad when I saw that I had 50 more bottles ahead of me. This meant that I had 50 men and 50 women in line ahead of me who would have the opportunity to buy milk before me.

The store opened at 8:00 am and I waited anxiously for 3 hours until the supplies arrived.

Only 20 crates of milk arrived and I couldn't get two bottles for my family.

It was 1987 and Albania was suffering from a basic food crisis:

- milk queue

- bread queue

- egg queue

- row for stone oil

- line for flour and sugar

The strange thing was that there wasn't one line but two: on the left was the men's line and on the right was the women's line. The vendor kept the line: One man, one woman.

We, the neighborhood teenagers, had found a solution. We often volunteered at the store so that they would give us food without waiting in line.

For some products, queues were not allowed because they were rationed and "limited":

- 1 kg of meat per month

- 1 kg of sausage per month

- 1 chicken per month

- 1 pack of minced meat per month

I was reminded of this story when I saw the Democratic Party's electoral campaign slogan:

"Our turn"

I laughed and understood.

Their "legend" has grown over 50 years of waiting in line for everything. Old communist. Half a century waiting in line for milk and 35 years in a row waiting for power.

He thinks that it's also the turn of the government and therefore bargains with the seller.

He has the entire political discourse with a "milk bottle." He has placed the bottle and is waiting for his turn.

- Have you seen that he doesn't let any party join the queue?

- Have you seen that the lists of female deputies are also in order?

He waits for Rama to fill his “food bag” and leave. He waits and doesn't leave until it's his turn, but he doesn't realize that the time for the queue has passed.

Even if the queue time were restored, they would kick him out of the store because he filled the bag several times.

People have been waiting in line for years and leave empty-handed, like me at the age of 15, in tears because I couldn't bring food to my parents.

That's why I remind Sali Berisha that power is not given in turns or through bargaining.

Your turn has passed, doctor.

Go away, it's the others' turn ……….. /CNA