Keeping America Beautiful

     Up until recently I have always spent my lunches pouring over work, or in meetings, or working lunch meetings, but now I find myself investing a few minutes at a nearby park swatting away the bees and increasing the pollution threat by exhaling harmful carbon dioxide. (Hey, I do what I can.)  I was polishing off an apple with a few last bites when in rolls an 80's era Ford truck and an elderly gentleman stumbles out of the drivers side and I thought to myself, "I didn't pay for this ticket, but I'll gladly accept the entertainment."  He makes his way to the back of the beat-up truck, opens the lid and downs the tailgate to reveal a not-so-mint condition couch to which my grand-folks would lovingly refer as a "davenport".  You should have seen the badly-contrasting flannel covers weaved together in between the dangling lint, grease spots, and ripped fabric.

     He peeked back at me a couple of times before he grabbed the bottom of the monstrosity and dragged it from the pickup bed to the curb of the park and began to stumble his way back to the door, which is about the same time that I grabbed my phone and opened my camera and voice note apps as I was unsure as to which would be needed, and quickly walked towards the truck from the distant pavilion from which I sought office salvation.  He rolled down his window and the conversation went something like this..."How are you guys doing this afternoon?"

     "We're donating it to the park."

     "You're doing what, now?"

     "We're gonna' donate that to the park."

     "You're going to donate...that...couch...to the park...?"

     "We're from Fort Wayne."

     "Ok...but the park doesn't need any more couches.  They got some in just last week (snicker, laugh)  This couch doesn't have any cushions on it"

     "Oh?  We didn't know that.  We're from Fort Wayne, we're sorry about that."

     I helped the old man prop the couch back into his truck and directed them to a nearby disposal, and in my short time on this rock called Earth...never have I seen a couple, young or old, try to pawn off their cushion-less junk of a couch, which would better serve as a pinup-poster for bed bug homes than as firewood, let alone something to donate to a non-proft organization to simply get the stanky item out of your home while making yourself feel good about it because those people can no longer say that you never gave them anything due to the fact that they now have the lice to prove you did...give them something.

     May I offer a thought here?  If it is not something you would accept as a donation into your home, business, or non-profit...there's a good chance that no one else will either, and it might be time to call in the Father to render its last rights, exercise any demons which may be possessing the 40yr old davenport, mattress, or exercise equipment,  and let the poor thing die, but…then again…that's just my humble opinion.