While I was carrying down pieces of that old desk I'd taken apart in preparation for its replacement by the latest trophy from beside those big blue bins on the first level of our parking garage downstairs, I met a couple of nice ladies who also believe in 'recycling' others' cast-offs. Actually, I think it's an admirable trait to have, and more of us ought to do it. One of those ladies was obviously in the midst of packing, probably for a move, but perhaps not. Maybe just putting away some unused items to make room for more. Our junk expands to fill the available space, after all.
The other lady was just after some small pieces of cardboard with which to reinforce one of those newfangled shopping bags, the kind that are made in China, where they know all about recycling and pollution and breeding yourself into 'standing room only' and out of a place at the table. Both ladies were picking through the one big blue bin here which is reserved for 'Cardboard Only - folded and flattened'. (Aren't rules wonderful?) I, on the other hand, was there adding to the garbage rather than recycling some today. But judging by the amounts of trash produced by our 200 suites in this residential high-rise, one of six on this property, I shudder to think of how much trash seven billions of us can and do produce in an average day. Woof!
Conversations in an elevator: Do you stand there like a dummy, staring at the changing numbers in the little window announcing the floors, or do you prefer to try striking up a short conversation with other passengers? I'm in the latter category. Sometimes, I get nothing but an icy stare in return, but mostly, I find people are quite pleasant, and often anxious to be friendly. And it's fun! One evening a few years back, a cute little Iranian girl of maybe six taught me how to say 'Good Night' in Farsi, or rather she tried to, as we rode 16 floors to my stop. As she told me, and I believe her, "You have to be born with our language, or else it will take you a hundred years!" And we're always good for a chat about the weather. Just this evening, on my way out to the supermarket, I remarked to another fellow in the elevator, "So - we're still waiting for some nice weather." He replied, "I think this is just fine! I'm living in the rainforest,
I pay my taxes, and I'm getting my rain." I said, "I admire your attitude. You're a true Wet Coast British Columbian!"
At the checkout at the big open-until-midnight supermarket, the little girl on the cash, Julia, said to me "I'm still trying to quit smoking, because I remember what you told me last year about your own struggles with it." Her memory of it is better than mine, bless her heart, but anyway I thought she could use some positive reinforcement, so I said, " Here's the problem, Dear - when we start out on the road of life, our lungs have five times the capacity we really need to just survive, so we can trash four of those five before we find ourselves in Big Trouble, and by then, it's too late to undo the damages. So Please! Keep trying to quit. You may be very glad you did. And don't wait until you're my age."
As I was carrying out my bags of groceries past the row of checkouts, I noticed that I was getting some thoughtful looks from two or three other cashiers on nearby machines. And that's good, because we're all in this together.
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