We’ve all heard adages like, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” or someone “trash talking” another person, or that something is “a load of garbage.” There are many other metaphors for trash. One that comes to mind at this moment is simply, “the trash heap of history.”
According to Google AI, there are numerous references to garbage in the Bible, including a metaphorical one, as follows:
I thought about this reference as I read Simon Pare-Poupart’s biography titled Trash!
Simon is a French Canadian who lives primarily in Montreal, Quebec. He put himself through college and earned degrees in sociology and business while working as a journalist and social worker.
The school work alone sounds arduous, but here is a man who does all of that AND works as a garbageman. As in so many places, Quebec is an area where people are judged by what they do, not who they are.
At a young age, children can be captivated by jobs that seem to require strength and visibility. (Even my husband, at 3 years old, aspired to be a garbage man.) Once socialization crawls in, though, the awe can turn to AWful.
Simon relays a passage from Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” that refers to the sewer being the “conscience of the city” and that secrets fall away when we are confronted with anyone’s trash.
How could we imagine anyone becoming addicted to the daily running around hauling huge trash bags and plastic (even metal) containers all day? And why would we think that faster is better?
Apparently, there is an entire sub-culture that includes the various types of individuals who are drawn to garbage, and there is a popularity hierarchy within the culture. Sometimes the fastest person is the most popular.
One fellow whom Simon describes as very popular lives simply and is an alcoholic. His co-workers love and accept him for his speed in doing his garbageman tasks.
Simon makes what I consider a profound statement regarding that co-worker when he writes: “Sometimes, keeping your mouth shut is an elegant way of loving someone.”
Isn’t that a beautiful and noble idea? Maybe I’m alone in thinking of it as such, but I was astounded when I read that sentence.
Simon is struck by some of the inequities of capitalism, both in Canada and in the United States.
On the other hand, garbagemen are so under the radar of any societal acclaim that hardly anyone acknowledges their lives. The positive of that anonymity is that the expectation of rehabilitation (physical, mental, etc.) does not exist. One can have a job anytime as a garbageman.
They have a community, which Simon calls, “a brotherhood of trash.”
While the French word for garbage is ordure, which means “horrible,” and was seen as an integral part of life, now it is viewed as a threat to that life.
Even recyclables are really illusions that the planet is safe. The privileged are allowed to get rid of their waste; those not well-heeled inherit it. In Simon’s mind, garbagemen are somewhere in the middle.
Still, they are poor people and looked upon as such. Once race is factored in, there are even larger pockets of bigotry.
That being said, Simon finds his work thrilling. He thrives on the idea that almost anything can be used by someone.
What does it say about a society that seems to treat their discarded items and the people who handle them as part of the same landscape of undesirability?
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: The high value of ‘low’ work | OPINION
Reporting by By Andrea Elise, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrea Elise, Special to the Amarillo Globe-News | USA TODAY Network
