The house across the street has stood empty for quite some time. There used to be an older person living there, but i can't remember the last time i have seen anyone around.
Late yesterday morning, our local garbage collection company drove up and dropped off a dumpster about 20ft. x 8ft. x 10 ft. in size. Massive. I wondered what was planned? The person who had lived there was a renter and now that they have left the owner was going to undertake a remodeling project and bring it a little more up to date?
After lunch several pickup trucks showed up and several guys got out and set to work. Open the windows on the side of the house by the dumpster and open the garage doors. Then inside they went.
Within minutes, stuff started flying out the windows and it was obvious that the house was being stripped bare. Furniture, pictures, clothes, carpets,... everything. By dinner time everyone was heading home and the job was complete. The house and garage were empty and the dumpster was overflowing — now filled about 3 ft. over the top rim.
My guess is that whoever had lived there is no longer with us. That whoever had lived there was now without need of earthly possessions. My guess is that everything that whoever had lived there had saved for and bought, had desired, dreamed of, cherished, couldn't live without, danced for joy when it was brought home,... is now sitting in a dumpster under a light rain.
Those dreams of youth, those plans made while raising a young family, those dreams of happiness and satisfaction, those memories of happy days and intimate relationships,... those things that make you smile just at the sight of them, or the smell, or just the touch,... those things that represented every aspect of someones life,... now sitting in a dumpster under a light rain.
Forgotten. Immense value transformed into zero value with one flick of the wrist. A memory of the purchase or gift transformed into a memory to call the garbage company to come pick up the now full dumpster within a few hours.
A life not just forgotten, but intentionally thrown away. Or, maybe never understood in the first place.
Sitting where you are, stop and look around the room. Everything you see could one day find itself in a dumpster getting soaked in a light rain. You call them possessions, but in reality they are material manifestations of memories. Beautiful memories, so-so memories, happy memories, sad memories. What do they really mean? And to who?
What a sad thing to see — someone's life being thrown in a dumpster.
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