Trash Day

On my walk this morning, I noticed two trash cans pulled to the curb, one for recycling, the other trash. Both were overflowing and allowed me to see that in the recycling can were items that could not be recycled, and in the trash items that could. While the clear violation of trash protocol invited me to get my deputy-of-the-frickin’-universe hat on, I continued walking and realized I am as guilty as the home I passed, I just do it with different cans.

Inside of me, I have two garbage cans, one for trash, the other recycling. Like my neighbor, I put the wrong things in the cans. In the trash, too often I put mistakes and other experiences which could be recycled, used for another purpose. If recycled, they could teach important lessons for the future, but, in my grief, sadness and/or embarrassment, I throw them into the trash as quickly as I can.

So, too, I sometimes recycle things that should be thrown away. Maybe it’s a story I’ve told for too long about myself or another, a memory I’ve held onto (or that’s held onto me) forever. Whatever it is, such trash needs to be seen for what it is and put in the other can. In other words, some things just need to be thrown away.

Imagine if we learned to sort our trash better! We would know a new freedom and a new happiness, because we learned to throw trash away. We would also not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door upon it, because we learned to recycle.