Secrets From The Trash Can

If we could only have their life. Oh...just to be them for one day. Maybe they live in a beautiful house with manicured lawns. Maybe they drive nice cars and dress in the most expensive clothes. From outward appearances, it would seem that they are living the perfect life. But, things that we see and perceptions derived from the street can be deceiving. It is what comes out of the house and ends up on the curb that will tell us the truth about those "perfect lives." A person's trash reveals the many secrets that they would rather us not know about.<br /> <br /> As we look through the trash, we find past due mortgages, overdue bills, and credit cards maxed to the limit. We find more containers that once contained alcohol than we find containers that once contained milk. We find prescription bottles that deal with a variety of issues that are in contrast to what the perfect life should be. What appears to be perfect from its unblemished shell of a life may have more problems than any of us would take on just to have that so called perfect life.<br /> <br /> Trash is incredibly truthful. It doesn't lie. Our trash men know more about our lives than our closest friends and family. They know just how cheap or extravagant we may be by the wrappings left behind. They know how healthy we eat and what our literary habits are. They know when we are having a bad week, or a good week, no matter what airs we put on to maintain some sense of perfection or at least normalcy. It is truly the unspeakable, unromantic, and unattractive trash that tells the real story.<br /> <br /> Law enforcement officers now practice this clue finding process in investigating what particular people that they are looking at might really be up to. It's sort of like a treasure hunt except for the fact that the treasure is found in a smelly garbage can and not an elaborative chest lined with diamonds and gemstones. In this case, the "booty" is in the eye of the beholder.<br /> <br /> What does our country's trash can look like? Everything looks pretty good from the street as other countries drive through the neighborhood. But, what if one of them takes the time to go through the garbage that we have quietly rolled to the curb hoping that no one will see it? As they look through the bags, will they see the trash residue of old documents that describe a greatly divided country? Will they be able to go through our bills and see that we are in debt up to our ears? Will they see the soiled containers that once held hearty portions of long standing racism, religious intolerance, and some old cans of self-entitlement that our parents worked for and deserved but that most of us just ate from until the original cans were empty? Will they find the discarded textbooks that once concentrated on education for education's sake and not one party's political interpretation of what education should be? What all would they find in our trash can as it sat on our country's curb waiting to be thrown out; completely oblivious that our secrets may be found out?<br /> <br /> I think that this dirty little secret may already be a bit out of the proverbial bag based on some of our irresponsibility and foolishness that allowed the trash to pile up in the first place. Not only do we need to do all that we can do to eliminate unnecessary garbage, but we need to be careful about what we say when we know that the contents of our trash cans are contrary to these statements. We can continue to keep the grass cut and the house painted as we go about in our finest clothes for perception sake. We can continue to drive the fanciest cars that we can no longer afford and drink the most expensive wines on a beer budget. We can try to wad up social issues in a tight ball hoping that once they are tossed in the garbage can we will not have to bother with them. We can do this for a while and we might be able to continue the ruse. But, at some point the trash can is going to become so full that the trash is going to spill into the streets and our secrets will then be out.<br /> <br /> Even that trash that we work hardest to conceal, as we pack load upon load to compost, will eventually generate those gases that can cause an unbelievable explosion. The residual damage and fall-out from such an explosion could cause damages that can no longer be hidden in any trash can. Would it not just be easier to eliminate the problems that we try and toss out as disposal or to come up with recyclable programs that turn refuse into programs whereby their once useless and secret confines can be used for the greater good?<br /> <br /> Time will tell as we determine if we just want to look like the perfect life with our dirty little secrets in the can or if we actually want to be the perfect life with an empty and very clean garbage can parked behind the house; curbs clear of any debris. It's just a matter of perception or perfection. We'll see how it works out!<br /> <br /> Stan L. Hall<br /> <br /> If you would like to have Stan speak at your next group event, please send your requests to [email protected]<br /> <br /> The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and are not those of the Gwinnett District Attorney's Office.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/1/235635