"Garbage Digger": A Parable

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There is probably someone like this whereever you are and whatever your circumstances. Wherever you go, there is someone mocked with some kind of title like "Garbage Digger". He is dirty, with greasy hair, who is a loner, who eats and pockets things you and I would never touch, frequently because it's from the garbage. You have at least seen the rest of your peers rag on him and mock him for what he does, and in some cases you have joined in their 'sport'.

The story is told of a certain student who fit this description. He was a male member of the clarinet section of his band in high school. The kids would make fun of him, ask him if he were digging for gold. One day during roll, the teacher paused while looking through the absentee list. She stopped, looked down, and teared up. Of course, the drummers, always concerned for the welfare of others, asked what was wrong. When they discovered the boy was gone, they made comments about how they could not smell him that day. The teacher threw her baton on the ground and began to lecture them, telling them of course that he had an actual name. She told the class, all now in rapt attention, how Gerry's father lost his job the previous year and moved his family into an abandoned barn on a nearby farm. The drum section grew quiet, feeling more and more foolish.

They treat Gerry differently than you for a reason. They give him twice the food in the cafeteria because it's the only meal he gets all day. Gerry goes around to the trays and collects leftovers to share with his brother. He sorts through the garbage for pencils and paper to use in his schoolwork, turning in assignments written on the reverse of other students' love notes. The reason for his absence was that the night before, one of the lanterns in the barn fell over and burnt the barn to the ground. In the fire, the clarinet was destroyed, and since it was a loaner from the school, Gerry is out cutting firewood for extra money until he can afford to replace it. He wants so much to be like you but he can't.

A girl from the clarinet section stepped forward and gave the teacher $5 for Gerry, asking her to tell Gerry she was sorry. Others followed suit. It didn't stop during band class. Over the next month, they collected enough food for six months for the family and enough cash to buy Gerry's family a mobile home and a replacement clarinet.

Sometimes we are so caught up in popularity and prestige that we do it at the expense of Garbage Diggers. There are people who do not care how many people they hurt on their way to the top. The irony is that they are frequently the people we most desire to resemble, and that frequently their gains are ill gotten. When you go about, look out for the Gerry's in your life. They are watching you. They need you. It is not an option to be different. There are people out there whose lives depend on you being different. You know what the Gerry's look like. Stand up and be different.

A certain man, traveling the road to Jerusalem fell among thieves. They were evil men; they robbed and they beat him and left him for dead. Two walked passed, but the third helped the stranger. He was also the least likely to help, for he was from Samaria.

This is the way to really be different. So many among us try to be different using the same methods and manners and mantras as everyone else, and while they differentiate themselves from their parents and teachers and coworkers, they start to resemble the miscreants more and more. However, many people have entertained angels unawares, and even if there is no undercover millionaire looking for someone to reward, their Creator is, and the Lord who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.