Garbageman Hero No More

Garbageman Hero is No More. Yes; like Davey Crockett,Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed, Garbageman was hero.  Remember as a kid in Newark; born 1950, the garbage men would come around with a big open truck with side-doors. The Garbageman or men were my hero; not only were they strong but diligent in the performance of their duties. Remember when the truck filled, the huge side metal door closed; secured with a metal bar latch,one man would stand on top of the refuse heap and catch the "steel barrel cans" as they were tossed up to him, emptied by turning upside-down the can and sometimes depending on the spirit if vitality of the man given an extra bang on the side of steel to beak lose some remaining refuse; then tossed back to the man below, caught and lightly put back on the ground; any debris were seeped up, by broom and shovel, attached to the trucks structure. No this was not a dream; as the horse drawn wagons of the ice-man, rag-man, junk-man along with watermelon and banana-man were not; all these indigenous forces of American society and enterprise unknowingly were coming to an end to be replaced by big business and corporate take overs of even the littlest ways of life. Old timers their lives running out and the real America would be no more, even the hard-work and meaning behind running a society would diminish along with them.  Garbage, trash or refuse; sanitation before the coming of mass produced plastics and packaging was somehow shall we say less complicated and cumbersome? people were more organically linked by tradition to their neighborhoods, streets were swept and community did not end at the curb or gutter. It was common to see people engaged in cleaning common spaces; today community ends at the curb and responsibility for solid waste is taken lightly by all; corporations who make the products that produce the waste and individuals that consume the so-called productions of convenience. The acceleration of mass produced, on-the- go , quick products, their packaging and waste were allowed with no fore-thought of the end result; too much to handle and accumulative impacts of extremely littered landscapes and communities, were not part of the equation. Free Market Economies spell disaster without proper insights and thought process carried out, as our history bears many examples.  Why does the community end at the curb or gutter? Has individual rights and assumptions replaced the concept or reality of nation or home? Do people think because they simply pay taxes this allows them to negate responsibility to authority? How can one not be disturbed, or not care about the common space of community, parks, streets, roadways? It is amazing how some people can ignore what is in front of their faces and should produce eye-sores.   The garbage man of today has a rough but necessary and important job. He must be paid well and encouraged by supervision in the utmost importance of doing the best job possible. Instead we have accepted the norm of litter and excessive trash everywhere. Garbage-men are now part of the problem. How; but no doing or not being expected to do a good-job. In part it is because Americans in all honestly do not know what clean is anymore, we attempt to disguise our irresponsibility toward the environment by flying flags or planting flowers.   being a Nation of consumers in a convenient society we place no emphasis on corporate responsibility; our legislatures ignore the obvious and praise our freedoms rather than our obligations to a common good. We have created a system of mass consumption and advertising that can not handle the mess. Corporations pass on to the individual the burden of waste disposal through taxes, instead of providing employment to retrieve their waste products. Plastic has become a plague upon the Earth of Biblical proportions, it is everywhere and especially spread by the automobile culture of littering.   If tax payers want fairness and the best bang for the buck we must do our part in cleaning our communities and in realizing corporations must be held responsible for this state of mass produced and constantly generated wastes that degrades our America. Or does America Really exists at all; is it just a shallow game of money and power not life and prosperity of the common good.  The problem of solid waste, litter and trash cannot be directed toward individual peoples but is an inherit aspect of capitalism's uncaring bottom line of profit over-all. There is now so much waste, inorganic man-made debris upon our land that it may never be clean again. This is what capitalism has done for America. How can the CEO's of these large global corporate giants look out their windows and not see what their products are doing to the world and all things in it. they avoid Extended Product Responsibility Legislation requirements. To them money is god and the insides of their homes and vehicles are more important than the outside ecology of life. We are becoming like these uncaring minorities of wealth.  "The average man too frequently feels little or no responsibility for the efficient operation of government. when conditions become intolerable, he reflects his discontent by transferring his loyalty from one authority to another, not by assuming responsibility himself for reform".   The reform required here is simple and can be accomplished with awareness and conscience discipline in handling our waste. 
  We have a perfect storm of loss of land ethic, loss of work ethic by both workers and management, lack of citizenship and caring by individuals and corporate giants and legislatures. 
 Community; home does not end at the curb. My hero the Garbageman is no more....