August 2000 volume 52
Quote, Unquote by Barbara Ros
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. There's a small town somewhere in this United States that has that as the name of part of their recycling program. It was featured on a late night cable channel a while back. It was really neat. At the center where people brought in
their recyclables, there was a concrete, walled, corner where
people dropped off items they no longer wanted. Things that maybe
would be fine with a minor repair, or a coat of paint. While
dropping off items, people were free to pick up anything there that
they took a fancy to.
Now, everybody secretly loves junk. I mean, probably if
everyday folks weren't afraid of being seen, they would go and
rummage around in dumps. It's true!
Now admit it. Don't you drive slower through neighborhoods
the night before Trash Pick-up Day? Tell the truth. If you see a
nice wooden chair sitting on the curb, don't you look over there
and wonder why in the world they are throwing away that perfectly
good chair? You even make judgements. Like - "Just look at how
much money they are throwing away.", or, "Probably the dog chewed
on that chair. Otherwise they wouldn't be throwing away such a
good-looking chair. What a bunch of idiots, having destructive
dogs in the house." Am I right?
And the Goodwill boxes. You know - the drop-off sites.
Everybody notices all the stuff people pile up around those boxes.
Well, you can't TAKE anything from the sites - that is against the
law. But when you make a drop, and there is a wonderful chest of
drawers sitting there -- aren't you tempted? Plenty of people do
take things too. In fact, some of them have sort of become a make-shift "Take It Or Leave It Center". Drop off a table, pick up a
lamp. Drop off a bed, pick up a bowl. Go by a box and watch
sometime -- it's a hoot! Someone rushes to a box, unloads a couple
of bags of clothes and shoves them into the box. They turn to go
-and slow their pace to a crawl - then walk backwards a few steps.
They have spied a fantastic antique wicker chair! Their face
registers emotions you can read at 100 yards. "O-o-o-, I love
this! Someone gave it away anyway -- why not to me. After all,
recycling is recycling. I'll send Goodwill a donation one day to
make up for it." (Right.) They quick, look around to see if
anyone is near. The coast is clear! They grab that chair and
stuff it into their car quick as a wink- and take off like a
slingshot. They keep their eyes glued on the rearview mirror for
blocks to see if anyone is coming to stop them!
Maybe the folks at Goodwill should consider doing something
like that as a regular program -- then all those folks who cannot
resist looking through the junk at a box would not be breaking the
law when they succumb to temptation. Maybe have something like --
drop off two items and you are eligible to take away one item.
Might be a boon for Goodwill. And they deserve a break -- they do
great work. Could make honest citizens out of some sneaky
recyclers.
Copyright (C) 2000. All rights reserved by Barbara Ros.
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