"Upon a heap of rubbish in the road-side ditch blooms a lotus,
fragrant and pleasing."
fragrant and pleasing."
Dhammapada: 58
*****
Comment: At least once in a fortnight I make a trip to our local rubbish dump to offload garden refuge from the back of my pickup truck.This past Sunday found me driving again through what must be one of the most dreadful places for any human being to work and to live; yes folks live there and even raise families amidst the garbage heaps that go on and on for as far as you may want to see.
On my way out I looked at the lives consumed by the waste that eventually will be covered by tractors pushing soil from one side of the dump to the other and wondered what beauty was hidden in-between the obvious despair.
It was at this point that I remembered the verse above.
I pulled over and rolled down my window and turned my eyes away from me to see what I have been missing.
Onward!
Image Credit
2 comments:
Any time I see a story about people who live in dumps, I cringe.
The coolest thimg I have seen is the Landfill Harmonic. They make instruments out of garbage and the kids learn to play. There is a film being made about them.
Here is their website. http://landfillharmonicmovie.wordpress.com
I find it amazing that this is what they could see in the piles of garbage. Absolutely Amazing!
Peace
Thanks for the link Kim. I am gonna take a look at it for sure.
There is beauty in everything. And some of the most beautiful and hardworking people I have seen/met are folks who forage at the municipal dump here in the dust bowl.
Once I watched a man play with his dogs while huge municipal trucks were dumping waste all around him.
He and his companions seemed oblivious to the mayhem; they were enveloped in energetic play.
I watched for a long time and it was truly a moment to learn and to appreciate the will to live despite the conditions.
Life is unfair at best but being stuck in lament/regret means you miss the struggle and its beauty.
Peace,
Ridwan
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