John was a different garbage man. His presence could be noted just by the clothes he wore: they were clean. John, in his folk wisdom, used to say that the outside mirrors the inside. He belonged to a traditional family of garbage men, in which the father, Mister Alvino, was filled with pride every time a boy was born to the family, for in those days only men could be garbage men.

John was one of them. As he worked around the city streets he was always smiling, diligent and happy, because he knew from traditional wisdom that someone must always collect the garbage from human attitudes. He considered this work honorable, because only the evolved can recognize garbage. All others are just innocent garbage makers!

John wouldn’t get married, because women of his time could not see wealth in garbage identifiers, garbage men, but only in garbage makers.

He liked to stay close to gatherings, because he knew that sooner or later they would start an argument and then, lots of pieces of paper would remain fluttering in the air, such as slanderous words. He tried to pick up those pieces as quickly as he could and store them in his silence, because he knew that if he didn’t act quickly, the evil would spread.

“Clean, clean, clean” was his motto, because he believed in a clean world.

John died and was buried in a dirty street corner. Hovering in the air to this day is his Hope that, as he used to say, “it depends on you”.

How is Your Mind?