I envy your find! But I also feel sorry for this family who seemed to have no awareness of the tremendous need in communities. Most surprisingly (to me at least) is that these items were placed in a dumpster (!!) instead of being shared with people who have so little (Salvation Army, rescue orgs, homeless shelters, etc.). I can understand a time crunch and wanting to just get it over with, but what sort of message does that send to the little boy on the corner? This could have been an opportunity to teach about sharing or poverty or people left with nothing after flood or fire. What a gift some of these things could have been to someone who had lost everything through no fault of their own. I hope they kept SOMEThing with which to remember this woman who died -- it would mean that there is within them an appreciation or connection to her as part of their family or at the very least an appreciation for the artisanship of these "things" made by hand long ago. From your story it seems as if there was no such appreciation as well as no attempt to share (until you asked). Your appreciation and rescue of these "things" from the landfill is really gift to all of us who value the work and artisanship of those who came before us.
On Jul 1, 2014 Sundisilver wrote:
I envy your find! But I also feel sorry for this family who seemed to have no awareness of the tremendous need in communities. Most surprisingly (to me at least) is that these items were placed in a
dumpster (!!) instead of being shared with people who have so little
(Salvation Army, rescue orgs, homeless shelters, etc.). I can
understand a time crunch and wanting to just get it over with, but what
sort of message does that send to the little boy on the corner? This
could have been an opportunity to teach about sharing or poverty or
people left with nothing after flood or fire. What a gift some of these things could have been to someone who had lost everything through no fault of their own.
I hope they kept SOMEThing with which to remember this woman who died -- it would mean that there is within them an appreciation or connection to her as part of their family or at the very least an appreciation for the artisanship of these "things" made by hand long ago. From your story it seems as if there was no such appreciation as well as no attempt to share (until you asked).
Your appreciation and rescue of these "things" from the landfill is really gift to all of us who value the work and artisanship of those who came before us.