One Man's Trash

I cannot tell my sister's son not to pick items up. He has found items in good condition. His mother has angrily said "This is garbage." It's not like he is saving apple cores or banana peels.

Where she is coming from is there is plenty in the house. The "Garbage" in question was a paper bird served in a drink. His sister lost her paper bird and he picked one up. This would fall away.

It led to an argument. I tried explaining this and she felt her authority was being undermined. Take it under advisement. She is the parent and ultimately makes the decision. I had ideas in the moment when she was that age and our father said "When you have children of your own you can say that."

Adults are very good at running out the clock. I saw something that could be done in the moment and suggested it. That's what leadership is and I would do it again. Before most of the people in this story were born- let's go back to sixth grade.

At my new school there was a newspaper recycling bin. As we played in a gender segregated church parking lot (my public school had lush green fields. There could be two baseball games going on and they would not conflict.) I noticed magazines in view. There were many issues of Sports Illustrated and one issue of Time.

That one issue was the Man on the Moon issue. I pulled them and carried them home with my books. Little by little I noticed many decent items being discarded. It was interesting reading Sports Illustrated from a few years earlier.

My parents did not like these additions to my bedroom. My father made an outdated reference to the Collier Brothers. They were garbagemen who brought home a lot predating the television series Hoarders.

I was not gathering items for the sake of gathering them. I found a store that bought older items. Before I had a job I was making money selling items I found. Not everything- I still own that issue of Time.

Be on the lookout. I have found Frank Zappa albums that were discarded, plenty when someone was moving out suddenly and I do not pick up everything. If it has value- some items are donated to charity if they can be used. It is better than having them sit in landfill indefinitely.

If I see money on the ground, that always has value. Even if it is one cent- I make roughly seventeen cents interest on my bank account. There are other benefits. That interest gives new definition to "Better than nothing." If there is nothing to lose and something to gain, the item has value.