I went through the city park and went to every trash can. Then, I packed the trash, threw it in a truck, and went to the next can. Most cans smelled horrific and had me gasping for air. This process of sweeping through the park took 2 hours. Then it was off to the city dump. As I threw bags from the back of a truck bed to a dump truck, I was a bit astonished. The dump truck may be one of the grossest and most ingenious inventions of the 20th century. As bags were crushed, they often popped, blasting tainted air and sometimes a bit of liquid. It was a putrid process.
***
Rewind to 7:30 when I walked to work. As I strolled through the park, I saw an elderly woman walking through the park as well. She didn't see me so I kinda watched her for a while. At one point, she began to look in a trash can, and then, to my amazement, she began to pick through it. I don't know what she was looking for, but I have to assume it was breakfast.
Then, I went through everyone of these garbage cans, coughing at the stench that rose out of them. And here is a woman, who is looking for something among what is thrown away.
***
I think life is a lot like that. Outside of a tale about the gripping and sobering sides of homelessness and poverty, there is a life application to be seen here in my opinion. A lot of people throw stuff away in life. And I'm not talking about garbage. Friendships. Talent. Marriages. Potential. Then there are those who are getting by. They are not blessed in a way that others are. They didn't get brought up with a good home-life. Bad luck hit them in the worst way. These kind of people are often searching in the scraps discarded in life.
Don't be mistaken: none of this has any closure or sure answers.
Maybe this should be a reminder that I ought to not take things for granted. Maybe it is an illustration of how other people's mistakes make a way for others to succeed. I'm not really sure. But I think life is what it is because of that which is thrown away.
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