Posts Tagged: sanitation
“HEROIC TRASH COLLECTOR”
My trash collector and I had an interesting exchange the other morning. I was out walking, and he said, “Hello, Doctor!”
I replied, “You make me laugh when you call me ‘Doctor’!”
He countered, “Well, I think that getting your Ph.D. is an amazing accomplishment.”
“I’m more relieved than amazed, I guess,” I replied.
And then, he took off his glove, and said, “I’d like to shake your hand, if that would be alright.”
“I would be honored,” I replied.
“I work hard, but you have brains,” he said.
My trash collector has been doing his job for twenty-four years. He told me in a conversation a few years ago that he had encountered people who has cursed at him for slowing them down in their cars, drunks who had threatened to fight, and bees and wild animals who stung and bit him. He is now having knee problems, and has to take cortisone shots every few weeks in order to help him to do his job without quite as much pain.
A few years ago, I forgot to put my trash out one week, and then we went on vacation. After we came back, I was taking a walk on trash day. He stopped me and asked, with obvious anxiety, “Are you all alright? I didn’t pick up your trash for a couple of weeks, and was worried about you!”
Years ago, I said to a medical student with whom I was acquainted, “I’m not too fond of doctors, but I suppose that we owe a lot to you, including the fact that we are all living longer.” His response surprised me.
“Well, actually,” he said, “you likely owe that to the garbage collectors.” He went on to explain that the sanitation folks had done a great deal to cut down on infections and even plagues.
Humm!
So, back to my recent conversation with my trash collector.
“I think,” I said to him, “that people like you, who do necessary jobs faithfully, are the real heroes.” And then I added, “I’d like to shake your hand, if that would be alright.”
“I would be honored,” he said.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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