• Poor trash can, all it ever gets is filth. The only thing people give it is their trash, already eaten food scraps, already used napkins, and empty cups. Nobody places anything complete or unblemished, what a waste, to throw something that can be enjoyed by others to a lowly trash can. A trash can that might have once been part of something useful, a part of an ambulance, a broken chair from the White House, or maybe even a mechanical pencil used to write lovely stories till its owner ran out of lead and threw it away. Nobody looks at a trash can and states that it was once something important, all they see is that it is a trash can and should therefore be used for trash. Is that much different from the way we treat our countries veterans? What makes them so different from a lowly trash can? They once served our country with vigor, watched their friends die and have seen unbelievable horrors we hear about, and cringe, blocking our minds from their reality, because it is too painful for our fragile ears. Now they are just old men, some homeless and wandering around our streets waiting for whatever garbage we find suitable to give to them, because we only see them for what they are now; old men whose only use is to do various jobs that no one else wants to do. What a waste of time, money and effort to honor these have-beens. Who cares about trash cans anyway? They have one purpose, and that is to hold our trash. Do the things that normal people refuse to do. Hold the thoughts and memories that would drive others insane. And keep them for the rest of their life, because unlike their inanimate counter parts, nobody comes to remove their garbage. They are forgotten. Left to keep their trash and continue keeping it their entire life until that rare moment when their load is lightened and somebody takes some of their trash away. That rare moment when somebody looks at a trash can and sees more than its tarnished exterior and the trash inside, they see what it once was, and tries to help it go back to the way it was. But there are millions of trash cans out there, some older and more weathered than others, and there are too few garbage collectors to help them, to few people who care enough to lighten their loads. I wonder what the world would be like, when people looked at trash cans, and other undesirable objects, and see what they once were, not what they are now. What a world that would be.