Living with garbage

I made up a saying that’s a play at some old adages.  It goes, “Never live with garbage.  If you live with it enough, you’ll end up stinking as bad as it does.”  Now, this isn’t a shot at homeless people.  No, not at all.  It is, however, a stab at people who are horrible to live with, and in turn, how they rub off on you.  Yes, it’s true.  Bad people will rub off on you, if you let them, and if you let them long enough.  I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it, and in turn, I had to escape it.  Now, I live on my own for the first time in my life.  The peace of mind could not have been greater.  I can’t be any more vocal about that.  However, before that, it wasn’t all that glamorous.

I don’t mind writing about the subject matter, because, frankly, it played a pretty big part in my life.  If you deal with the worst of people long enough and do nothing about it, you yourself will end up as bad, if you allow yourself to.  Now, this isn’t a “run away from home” speech.  This is more of a “do something about it” speech.  But, you don’t act rashly, or without rationale.  You plan wisely.  You plot carefully.  You take the chances needed, and you make the most of what happens.  I made this move earlier, and I haven’t been happier.  I work with my own pace and don’t have to worry about my life being sent awry.

I will admit that the life I had where I was had its good moments.  But, as you get older, growing pains become more evident and prevalent to you as that of a dull toothache.  All it takes is one wrong bite and you’re in searing pain.  Sometimes, you have to extract the tooth and be done with it.  But, when you don’t have the right coverage and know it’s going to cost you big to do it, you have to prepare wisely to extract that tooth.  Once it’s gone, you don’t really have to think about it, as it’s no consequence.  But, every now and again, instead of an extraction, you have to crown it and take out the nasty filth.  Initially, that’s how I approached it.  Problem is, that’s a temporary fix.  You have to do better than that if you want to have your peace of mind.

But, enough metaphors.  The nitty gritty of this situation has to do with family.  The worst people you can have a problem with is your family because you’ve lived with them all your life.  Only they know how to hurt you best, and vice versa.  As you grow, you see them grow.  If they don’t grow well, you’re more than likely going to hear about it or feel it.  You have to do your best to not let it get the best of you.  Of course, when you are young, all you can do is deal with it how you can: immaturely.  But, once the advice on how to deal with it finally sinks in, you will be on your way to finding that peace of mind.  It does help if someone you loved that has some authority on this, like your mother or father, could help in the matter.  But, if they don’t see a good way to solve it, and if it seems like they are enabling the situation, I think you know why the garbage starts to stink.  It hurts even more when they say you smell like the garbage yourself (i.e. if you are acting like the problem child is).  So, you have to do what is within your power to deal with it, like “take a shower”, “recycle more”, or “plan to take yourself out of the situation”. 

I can’t say I’m not glad that I didn’t make the move, but I don’t know if I can ever deal with the garbage directly if the caretakers refuse to take it out or clean it.  So, I have to deal by moving away from it.  When it starts to affect you, you have to relocate.  I can only hope that the others that live near but need to go do the same.  There’s nothing more disgusting than having a big old pile of trash fall on your cake and ruin your celebration.   Even the most composed of people will have to say something.  And when that happens, you know that the trash must be taken out.  Hopefully, that will come sooner than later, rather than have it stink up the place until you can take no more.

That said, I hope you all got the message I’m trying to portray here.  If there is garbage in your life, get rid of it.  Don’t let it stink up the place.  It can be anything.  If it’s a lousy relationship, a horrible roommate, or in my case, a member of your family, then do your best to help the effort to clean up.  It might not happen overnight, but once the air is cleared of the foul stench, life will be so much better.  Just make sure the trash doesn’t follow you.  Then, you might have to have the right authorities handle it.