Trash Gone

September 1, 2017

They came around this morning just like every other Friday in the year. House to house they go, hoisting heavy containers to their shoulders and upending them before dropping them back to the ground. Thursday nights, we go through the house emptying baskets and gathering bags to set out by the curb waiting for their morning suitors to pick them up. 

I’ve been to countries where trash is dumped alongside the roads, left lying all over the ground. I know that happens here, too. Anyone who has lived through a sanitation workers’ strike in a major city knows how quickly our garbage can pile up, raising a real stink. Yes, garbage can pile up, but it doesn’t have to. We have a dedicated team of workers who faithfully pick up what we leave behind, hauling it to the landfill where it is buried in sealed cells, out of sight, out of mind. We don’t often think of them, even less often do we thank them, but tonight I am thankful that when I walked to the roadside this evening, it was an empty cart I brought back to the garage, its contents collected and deposited, leaving behind a cleaner, more beautiful house and yard. I am thankful tonight for the men and women who work hard at an often thankless job, making life better for the rest of us.