Community Service

I did community service today at the Habitat for Humanity Thrift Store. For some dumb-ass reason I waited to do my 40 hours until the last possible minute; they were due on Friday but I sold my PO into giving me until Wednesday when I have to meet with her. Anyway, I just got done with an 8-hour workday that I wasn't paid for and had a few thoughts. I was just thinking about how much most people take for granted in our communities. Take me for example; I do most of my consumer shopping at Best Buy, Borders, and Wal-Mart. Today I worked in a thrift store; for the majority of the customers today, this was their normal shopping destination. Places like Wal-Mart and Big Lots are probably considered high-end shopping for these people. I was sorting through 25-year old TVs and VCRs that were high-class for the people buying them. One woman was on a spree, buying toys for kids; toys that I had played with 15 and 20 years ago. I came across all sorts of familiar stuff; telephones, answering machines, and such that my family had bought new and later discarded that were now being used by much poorer people. When I was a kid I had hand-me-downs from my cousin; I don't think I wore a new pair of jeans until high school. But here it wasn't just hand-me-downs, it was hand-me-arounds. The bottom line was that it was just kinda weird to see folks shopping and grabbing items that the average American called outdated junk years ago. I don't reckon I'll change my entire lifestyle, but I will be more thoughtful about things now. Instead of throwing away something I view as trash, I'll probably take it to Goodwill and have it be reused.
Other than that, no one is happier that the Reds are owning both the Astros and the best record in Major League Baseball. And the NFL Draft has been solid as well. I'm off to the (bike) races, so I hope y'all have a good weekend!