"Show Me the Garbage!"

There's an old saying: "Show me your bank account, and I'll know your values."
So true- how we make, prioritize and spend our money communicates a lot about our lives. 

On Sunday, as we picked up trash around the mall, I realized how much I was learning about what we value as a society.  Some of my observations:

First: More than half of what we picked up was related to fast food- coffee cups and food wrappers EVERYWHERE!  We love convenience, and can't be "inconvenienced" by throwing things out in their proper place.  Sad, really.

Second: our "vices" create our trash.  Now some might say coffee and fast food are a vice. Disregarding that stuff, we found SO MANY cigarette packages and butts, beer cans and bottles, drug paraphernalia, and discarded contraceptives.  Apparently there's more than parking going on in that parking lot!

Third: a lot of the trash was just irresponsible.  Some might consider shopping a vice, and there was an obscene amount of packaging and shopping bags.  Have we not received the memo, "bring our own bag"?

Finally:  Here is what I did NOT observe-  Discarded bags of carrots.  Broken bike parts.  Waste from the Farmers Market.  Fair Trade Coffee containers.

It would appear to me that there is a direct correlation between the choices we make and the trash we produce: 
"Convenience" begets more garbage.
Thoughtful purchasing begets less waste.

This week take a look at your garbage.  Take a look at your neighbours garbage (just tell them your pastor told you to do it!).  What does it say about you and about our society?
But I'll warn you in advance- it stinks.