A Day in the Life of Trash cans

A Day in the Life of a Trash can



    Poor trash can. All it ever gets is filth. The only thing people give it is food scraps, used napkins, and empty cups. Nobody discards anything complete or unblemished. It would be a waste to throw something useful to a trash can. A trash can that itself has been recycled parts of something useful. Nobody looks at a trash can and states that it was once something important; all they see is a trash can and should therefore be used for trash.

    Is that much different from the way we treat our country’s veterans? What makes them so different from a lowly trash can? They once served our country with vigor, watched their friends die and saw unbelievable horrors we cringe to hear about, blocking our minds from their reality. Now most of them are just old men, some homeless and wandering around our streets waiting for whatever garbage we find suitable to give to them. What a waste of time, money and effort to honor these has-beens.

    Who cares about trash cans anyway? They have one purpose, and that is to hold our trash. To do the things that normal people refuse to do. Hold the thoughts and memories that would drive others insane. And keep them for the rest of their life, because unlike their inanimate counter parts, nobody comes to remove their garbage. They are forgotten. Left to keep our trash and continue keeping it their entire life until that rare moment when their load is lightened and emptied. That moment when somebody looks at them and sees more than their tarnished exterior and the trash inside, they see what they once were, and try to help them return to life. But there are millions of trash cans out there, some older and more weathered than others, and there are too few garbage collectors to help them, too few people who care enough to lighten their loads. I wonder what the world would be like, when people looked at trash cans seeing what they once were, not what they are now. What a world that would be.