ICT Trashman

    
  Picking up the trash

All over town. Up and down. East to west.  Inner-city to suburb. Far away, and yet somehow still, personally, curbside close to home!!!

!!!!  You can just see the difference  !!!!

I've heard people call out to me
     "Round yonder", or "jus ova' dare",  in pointing out to where they, themselves noticed trash thrown on the ground. Refuge having been tossed out or however improperly disposed of.
Because that's what I do.  I pick up the trash that blows around in this Kansas weather.  Not the trash from an abandoned home.  Because I'm not  a waste management employee.  I'm known as the ICT Trashman.

Described by the phrase
     "A potentially pitiful putt past Mr. Pickles  prickly pyracantha plants." (OUCH!!!)

OR
     "Beyond Mrs. Tunstra's thyme patches that steadily stay tilted towards town".

     Sightings may be small.  Some up close.  And yet even at a distance, that is so,so very far.  

 But that's where you'll find me!! Within the neighborhoods you live and convince areas throughout.  Could be any place labeled by the elected powers that be designated as public.. 
     Yes, side streets, back streets,, alley ways, and even  wide open fields.  Edges of the field at least.  Because if there is a sidewalk to travel on, there is bound to be trash!!! But rules are rules and "Private Property" is off limits without consent because some may not want me trespassing on their property.  I respect that.
     
     What an idea!!! 

     Understandable yes, that new ideas may not always be better (let alone the best) or that it may take a bit to catch on.  But staying aware of the present reality known as a the "real world" has given me so many perspectives to view things from.  To be empathetic of things.  So if 3rd grade went slow, and 4th started a water flow, then hang on tight because 5th will give me surely enough to float.  But it takes time and patience is needed the most!!! 
    
    The purpose and mission to this is simple.  Finding a way to give back.   Giving back.  Now there is a phrase that could be misunderstood.  So please allow this to paint a quick mental picture.  
       "And how is that, Trashman???",
Story time...........
    

    
      My tour of duty with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Operation OEF 08 - 09 falling in with the 101st Airborne(Air Assault) and while having been detached out from my regular unit that i had spent the prior year with training to put steel on target.  "King of Battle",   Artillery was my job!!  But with reassignment to a maneuver platoon,and spending the entire year out running and gunning in a vein of rocks that jutted off the Hindu Kush Mountains separating Afghanistan from Pakistan,the "Queen of Battle" the Infantry way of life became mine own and events took place.  Memories were seared into my mind.  But i bottled them up and stuffed all those emotions waydownd deep.  To say it mildly, i was broken and didn't even realize it. 
     Shortly after my return to Kansas, life threw a curve ball my way.  I was arrested and charged with felony aggravated battery.  Against a man who had previously been in an altercation (the evening in question) and eventually kicking his way through my locked front door, forcing his way into my house, he took a trip to the hospital that night but also I took a trip to jail. 
    
Everyone in my life seemed to distance themselves from me.  Even my wife chose to be a witness against me (in before mentioned felony charges considering the victim was her brother) and after 3 months of no contact with her, I was served  divorce papers while still in jail.  And all her newly aquired belongings (that of which was the trashman's) were pinched, stole, flipped, lost, forgotten, and trashed.  So needless to say, my mentality became that of an angry, vengeful man.  I felt betrayed.  I felt alone.  My heart was filled with hate and anytime I tried to speak about how I was feeling ,  I was silenced.   A combat soldier, a battle tested, a war proven veteran now had a chip on his shoulder and resentment festered for years. 
     My selfish and violent ways could only last so long before I too became a threat to those people I swore to protect and defend.  Alone and numb, countless fights and all out brawls seemed to become common and people got hurt.  All while clouded under the foggy haze of alcohol, I couldn't see what I was becoming. 

     The hallways of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in-patient for 6 and a half months and outpatient still to this day, time spent listening to those lucky enough to find themselves in rooms of AA, followers and leaders alike, and  keeping honesty, openness, and willingness as the new ethos I chose to live by. 
     And for that, that change in thinking, i was presented with a new outlook on life.  Forgiving those who I feel wronged me.  Not for them.  For me.  Accepting responsibility and apologizing for my very own wrong doings.  Not by saying a simple "I'm sorry", but by becoming more empathetic.  By trying to look at things from their angle.  Putting myself in their shoes.  And in that, an American 2nd Chance was gifted to me. 

     That is why I am honored to be picking up the trash that blows around our entire city.  Because it always could be worse.  So I'll be humble, swallow my pride, and pick up the discarded bits and what not.  Because I'm blessed enough to have the wonderful opportunity that we all know we would like to see but who will do it?? 
   
 
     One might say that this sounds like too simple of a task.  But please remember, the work of progress can be lost with just one action.  This world is a big place with lots of different folks.  Different perspectives and points of view.   Different lives.  We all have separate paths we must walk.  And every one of us feels the weight of the burdens placed on our shoulders.  No matter how different.  With the past being just that, the past, I am simply doing what I can to stay active, helpful, and most importantly, sane.  I'm not at Quicktrip asking for change.  No I am not wallowing in self pity.  I am not blaming others for the burdens I carry.  I am not constantly high or drunk trying to forget things or distance myself from the truth.  I am taking action and trying.  I'm picking up trash that blows all around the city.  My city.  Simple. 
     Standing ready,  For my friends, and for my loved ones.  Known or unknown to me  this is planet Earth and we all live here.  We have got to take care of it.  For our children to have have the chance to pass it on to their children.   Plus. it has positive benefits good  for  all!!!!!!

    
Thank you for your likes, donations, and spreading this around through the grapevine.  Spreading the message of the ICTTrashman.  "JUST BELiEVE, and you can  ACHIEVE"

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