Recycling Has its Limits
When it comes to the environment there has to be shades of
being green. I think I must be light green.
I do care about preserving the environment. It is the only
one we have. I try to do my part. I faithfully separate all my cans, bottles
and paper etc and regularly place them in the recycle bin. However, I do drive
an eight cylinder, full size, four wheel drive, gas guzzling truck; without
apology I might add. I won’t mention that I often fill the gas tank of said eight
cylinder, gas guzzling, four wheel drive anti-eco machine during peak hydrocarbon
emission hours.
Nonetheless, when I go to the grocery, rather than allowing
my purchases to be placed in those evil 50 year eco busting plastic bags I
always ask for paper bags, so I can recycle and reuse them. So I do believe in
helping to preserve the environment…partially… and I do believe in recycling.
But recycling has its limits. And there is a type of recycling I will never
accept.
Recently I wrote to you about a conversation I had with a friend who told me he felt unprepared to respond when he crossed paths with a homeless man in Chicago. I asked him what he would have done if that man was his son. That one comment gave him an entirely different perspective on just such opportunities. Others of you have
also let me know how helpful that question/comment/perspective has been to you.
You can read more about it on my blog at dougehrgott.wordpress.com. Read You
Don’t Have to be Like Me!
I’d like to tell you about another man’s son that I met in
Capetown South Africa while on my trip there last July. I don’t know who this
son’s father is and neither does he. I met the young man about which I am
writing at a trash can located near an ice cream stand at an outdoor area in
the middle of one of Africa’s most opulent malls; The Waterfront Mall in
Capetown South Africa. It boasts several levels of some of the world’s
trendiest stores and it is situated right the edge of the Capetown Harbor. The
views of the water and the ships and mountains are breath taking. But the
beauty of all the views dissipated for me as I suddenly eyed a young man about
18 or 19 reaching into a trash can to retrieve a partially eaten ice cream cone
and immediately begin to consume it. I guess even hungry kids don’t like melted
ice cream. I am sure he had positioned himself near the trash can intentionally
and had practiced this custom regularly of watching people discard their
leftovers so he could be the first person to snare the coveted “catch of the
day.” This was his form of recycling and I couldn’t accept it.
The irony for me now, as I review and write about what
happened, is that my friend Scott and I were scouting for food ourselves. The
team we had traveled with to Capetown was comprised of 8 ladies and two
men…Scott and me. Now, you can’t take a team of ladies to Capetown without
visiting The Waterfront Mall. And you can’t go to The Waterfront Mall without
dining at one of the many seafood specialty restaurants. In my mind the
restaurants were the only redeeming characteristic of the entire venture…so
far. You see, I don’t really enjoy shopping anywhere but I do enjoy eating
everywhere. So while the ladies shopped, Scott and I scouted for the perfect
seafood experience; which for me would include immediate seating and entrées
under $10. Dockside seating was optional.
As we walked the length and breadth of the area where most
of the dining options were located we passed a small, somewhat isolated ice
cream and hotdog stand. I didn’t enquire about their seafood offerings I just
randomly noticed it was there. Just after we passed the ice cream stand was
when the young man reaching into the trash can caught my attention. At first I
didn’t know what he was doing but in a nano second it became clear as I put the
pieces of the scene together. His clothes were somewhat worn and dirty, a group
of people had just walked by and deposited something into the trash can and
then he started to eat to eat the trash can treasure. This is always the moment
of truth isn’t it? This is where we chose to act or to turn the other way or
simply ignore or disbelieve what we are seeing. But this is always when I would
want someone to do something for my child if he were in this same situation.
Scott and I were just a few yards away from the young man at
this moment so I called out to him, “Hey, what are you doing?” Of course he
felt and looked ashamed and embarrassed…wouldn’t you if your only means of
sustenance was eating other people’s trash and then you were caught in the act.
I continued as if I didn’t know what was happening, “Why are you eating out of
that trash can?” He could only wait in silence as Scott and I approached. I am
not sure what he thought I was going to do but I gently assured him at this
point that he did not have to eat other people’s trash. I asked him if I
could have the half eaten, by him and others, ice cream cone. He gave it to me
and I threw it back in the trash can. Then I asked him if he would like
something else to eat. Duh!!! I asked him if he would like a hot dog from the
nearby hot dog stand. He certainly did. So I ordered the largest hotdog they
could provide. I was told by the attendant they only had one size so I insisted
they give me the largest one they had. When I paid I gave the attendant enough
money for a large ice cream cone as well. Isn’t that what I would do for my own
son? Isn’t that what I would want someone else to do for my son in the same
situation? I gave the young man his hot dog and told him he had an ice cream
cone waiting for him after he finished is hotdog. He was speechless.
We sat with him while he ate his hot dog and I asked him to
tell us his story. He is 19 years old. He has a name. His name is Donavan. He
doesn’t know his parents. He has never known his parents. They both died before
he was old enough to know them. He has been living on the streets and in and
out of shelters and out of trash cans most of his life. We spent a little more
time talking about how he could get long term help through a local church. We
prayed with Donavan and then I realized he probably wanted to get that ice
cream cone…soon.
I came away from that encountered more determined than ever
to make a difference in the lives of the children in Africa. I will never forget
Donavan. I have just returned from Capetown with my son in law where we conducted a 4 day leadership summit in which we gave teenagers some tools to learn how to consistently grow in God’s grace and to change the direction of their own lives
and the lives of hundreds of others in the desperate townships and malls of
South Africa. Would you please agree with me that the seeds planted in these
students will produce a great harvest? And please pray for Donavan and the
suffering children of Africa the next time you enjoy an ice cream cone or when
you take out the trash.
For the hungry
Douge
