Shipping and Handling Within minutes of each other, two big trucks appeared at my home. The first, a brown UPS truck was followed just five minutes later by the garbage truck. One was bringing more junk to my home; the other taking more junk away. I believe there is a certain irony to paying bills for polar opposites in work. Hmmm…. The eleven packages that the sweaty UPS driver delivered were heavy and bulky. They were organized and boxed carefully with tape. They all matched with their little bar coded scanning labels. The delivery man worked the dolly and placed each package in my garage. I finally had to sign for each of them to show that the UPS man had done his job in delivering them. In contrast, I had to do the dirty work of taking out the trash. Having filled the container in the garage with the waste from each of the rooms in the house, I wheeled the big green can with a blue lid to the street. The truck had a big mechanical arm that would grab the can and dump it for him. It’s a lot different from the garbage men hanging off the back of the truck I saw as a kid. No signature was required and no care was taken to coddle the trash. It was just trash. Everything that ends up in the trash can was once new. At some point those dirty and damp paper towels were still on the roll wrapped in cellophane. That worn out pair of flip flops were the ones you “just had to have” in the store twelve months ago. The empty plastic bags of frozen vegetables were once a dinner possibility. Everything in your trash can was once new and appreciated. Then, life happens. It gets used up and broken. It is consumed and the leftover packaging is all that remains. The new becomes old. The exciting becomes blaise. As I think about the enterprise of truck driving in this case, I realize that the primary differences between these guys is the direction in which they are headed and the history of their cargo. The UPS guys is carrying new stuff. He is bringing it to an expectant consumer who is anxious to open the box and use it’s contents. On the other hand, the garbage man is taking away refuse that the customer is excited to have exit the home. One takes away the other gives. One cleans up our home; the other fills the empty space. Both are shipping and handling. At the heart of my pondering are questions of time and direction. Is your life being filled up with stuff right now? Or is it being emptied of all its garbage? Are you in a time where new and exciting things are coming your way with the joy of unwrapping your future? Or are you stuck having to pick up everyone else’s garbage? Are you filling your life with good stuff or with garbage? How long will you hold on to that old stuff that you don’t need anymore? Are you so sentimental that you can’t discard old and used things? Is garbage filling up the spaces of your life? Are you trying to fill your life with stuff or are you trying to empty it of all that “stuff”? Shipping and handling is part of our lives. You will pay for it coming and going. Take time to celebrate with folks as the proverbial UPS man makes his deliveries. Join in their excitement to embrace the new. At the same time, you might need to help someone take out the proverbial trash and remove some of the garbage that keeps filling their lives. Sometimes we need to be the delivery guy; sometimes we need to be the garbage man. Either way, life is all tied up with shipping and handling. Love one. Love another. Jack
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 11:42:39 +0000
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