The Garbage Truck Philosophy

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so - Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

:-)

Omega Wrote:
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> Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety
> percent how you take it!
>
> Have a blessed, garbage-free day!
Very nice story. Now to put it into practice.

That was great, Omega, thanks!

"Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!"

Excellent!

awesome story

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Fabulous! Thanks so much, Omega.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Thanks for posting this great story! My name is Dawn, and I work with David J. Pollay, the author of The Law of the Garbage Truck™. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that you can read the original story on David’s blog, [davidjpollay.typepad.com]. It would mean a lot to us if you would let people know that David is the author of The Law of the Garbage Truck.

You can also find out more information about The Law of the Garbage Truck on www.thelawofthegarbagetruck.com. Make sure to check out the video of people in New York City taking the No Garbage Trucks!™ Pledge: www.bewareofgarbagetrucks.com. It’s pretty cool.

Thanks again!

Dawn

dawn@themomentumproject.com

I was in a car the other day driving along... moseying by.. just minding my own business when all of a sudden,this person with mafia like sunglasses just careened aside ... driving dangerously parallel to me and threw a duffel that had a million bucks in it. And i mean, he just FLUNG it through my half opened window.

The blonde baseball player with the not so blonde baseball cap who was sitting shotgun to me, nonchalantly munching on some mexican spice flaxseed crackers with joyfully sprouted raw hummus said " Geeez. WHY.. OH WHY did that person DO that?

I , in my most sagest voice replied, " Its the law of the Bejeweled Vessel."

Sometimes people have so much great things that happened to them.. and so many blessings bestowed upon them and heaps and heaps o joy inside of them and when they get the first chance they just want to CAST it to someone else.



This is La Veronique's "Law of the Bejeweled Vessel."

be sure to gimme credit

whenever you quote me on this

it is surely an important thing

Ten percent of life lies in the making of the jewelry and honest to god, 90% of life is predicated upon how you WEAR them.

O yeaaaahhh!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2009 11:40AM by la_veronique.

Oh yeah, my website in the making is "lawofthebejweledmexicanflaxseednecklace.com"

it would be helpful if you knew that i was the author of this bedazzling yummy o edible spicy necklace

la_veronique Wrote:
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> This is La Veronique's "Law of the Bejeweled Vessel."

Get that trademarked ASAP.

Aye aye!!

( off to the trademarking market I go!)

OOH Yeaaah LaV lol.
Sheer brilliance !!!

Just want to add... I'm still laughing.

Anything for a buck. This epitomizes it nicely IMO .

LIghtform i am soooooooo madddd!

i told jesus that i accept him

and then i CLICKED on the logo

and then i waited and waited and WAITED... i strummed my fingers upon my desk for like.. THREE hours

and NO PLAYSTATION SHOWED UP!!

i is a bit sad about all this

that's okay though

i'll just hang out with BIGFOOT and he and I can just DREAM about owning a PLAYSTATION




********

click on the dotted line above to see what me and BIGFOOT dream about

LOL!!!!! You guys are the most outrageous! (Love this forum.)

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

well like... i thinnk i am making a shift in my thinking
cuz sometimes i think of ways to "improve"
but then this also is predicated on being "deficient"

so then i think of all the things i have
and just focus on being grateful for them
and then they seem to increase

i swear
there is some magic to this

so the saying is true i believe so .. fer sure.. the saying that says that if I focus on what I don't have... then the universe slaps me upside the head and says

" yo La V ... you blind ungrateful wretch.. for being so narrow sighted and not see the abundance that you have... we are going to put your mental brain in a vice and make you see only MORE of what you DON'T have"


but then when i DO see what i have and focus on that and... of course, take action as well( yup... a verrry important detail here)

the universe seems to tell me:

" Hey La V...you finally GET it... because of this... we will award you with mounds and mounds and MOUNDS of MORE cool good and great stuff ... this could include MORE fantastic health GREATER and more significant quality depth of relationships... mental health... etc. etc. etc.

its true that when i feel gratitude towards things

i tend to get more of it

therefore... gratitude is a selfish act
of which i GLADLY partake in

yeaaaahhhh!!!

Yeah it's a fascinating thing LaV.
In my own experience it is illustrated by virtue of the emphasys in the focus alone, meaning that while we are focusing on lack, this very specific expression shapes all of our associated emotional responces and actions and vice versa.

As for acting... I have not found this to be necessary, although this does seem to be deceptive because action/creation is a consequence of the mechanism I've just discussed above. So in my experience it usually goes hand in hand.

I think it is probably a case of being the product of your desires from the place of primary cause ( i.e you ! ) rather than being the product of what you do not wish, and that action is an embodyment or byproduct of doing this ?

I dunno... I'm still working on it .

i agree

that is why i focus on what i do have

its training my brain for a noble heart

this was a great story!!!

then i read down to veronique's post and couldn't stop laughing!!!

thanks omega and ver - i'm glad i came back

Wheatgrass-it does this body good!

well i feel like flinging like a million bucks to someone in a car

WAIT!!! where are my mafia sunglasses?

uhhhhggggh... i can't FIND them!

oh well.. will have to wait another year

til they show up

too bad

WAIT!!! where oh where IS that bag of green paper that i stuffed ( underneath the mattress)

DARN IT!!

it got all soaked up when someone shot several bullet holes through the mattress and then the ceiling leaked and then the water poured in buckets through the holes
soaked up the greenz ( yep.. monnney)

and now the million dollar is all moldey and mildeweyed

oh well...

that's okay

at least they left my mexican flaxseed crackers and tupperware filled with raw joysproutpaprika hummus alone

you know

priorities
are important

i'm glad i know what mine are

If you smile & wave at @$$holes they might be shamed into temporary submission but if you restrain their behavior via counteraction they will be forced to quit. Where do you draw the line @ the smile & wave philosophy. Should you smile & wave at a drunk driver, a wife beater, a screeching mother-in-law? Someone's got to show these people their behavior is unacceptable or they will continue it.

If the taxi driver would've gotten out & smashed the guy's mirror off with a bat you better believe he'd improve his driving habits & perhaps lives would be saved.

The other day some punk kids threw at egg @ a friend of mine. He called them a name or two so they stopped the car & walked up to him making threatening gestures. He clocked out of them & his two shocked buddies carried him back to the car. How many more times do you think they'll go egg throwing in this lifetime? How about if he smiled & waved with egg running down his face? I'm no prophet but I'd be willing to bet plan A nipped that irresponsible behavior in the bud alot faster.

i don't like the taste of egg on my face
because i'm vegan
so kicking *** is a LOT easier for me

communitybuilder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you smile & wave at @$$holes they might be
> shamed into temporary submission but if you
> restrain their behavior via counteraction they
> will be forced to quit. Where do you draw the
> line @ the smile & wave philosophy. Should you
> smile & wave at a drunk driver, a wife beater, a
> screeching mother-in-law? Someone's got to show
> these people their behavior is unacceptable or
> they will continue it.
>
> If the taxi driver would've gotten out & smashed
> the guy's mirror off with a bat you better believe
> he'd improve his driving habits & perhaps lives
> would be saved.
>
> The other day some punk kids threw at egg @ a
> friend of mine. He called them a name or two so
> they stopped the car & walked up to him making
> threatening gestures. He clocked out of them &
> his two shocked buddies carried him back to the
> car. How many more times do you think they'll go
> egg throwing in this lifetime? How about if he
> smiled & waved with egg running down his face?
> I'm no prophet but I'd be willing to bet plan A
> nipped that irresponsible behavior in the bud alot
> faster.

It is realy interesting that you bring that up CB, I've spent a bunch of time thinking about it myself and have had it come to my attention again recently.
I think that correcting injustice or resolving unworkable arrangements may possibly be as important as is creating benificial ones or premoting harmony.

That said, I also feel that there is a line to be drawn where ones actions create more disharmony than they correct. I think that this line may be determined more by the intention of the administer, rather than the physical action that is taken. I'd also look beyond the direct action reaction equation as well. What part does the victim have in the situation ?

Also, in a situation like the one you mention about the egg throwing, they may not throw any more eggs, but where else may that hostility reemerge ? Does that beat up perpetrator become more balanced as a person ? Do they becone less disfuctional in society as a whole ? What is truely achieved ?

As I said earlier, I am not suggesting that a single instance such as this always has the same answer, but I think that if you look to the intentions / character of the interceder, then you will find the true gauge of an actions merit. I think that one has to have a very strong foundation of acceptence, compassion, respect, and personal integrity before they may start to understand true morality. All the things that primarily lean toward non violence and alternatives to force.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2009 10:39AM by Lightform.

My feeling upon reading CB's anecdote was to picture a nature special involving apes or chimpanzees. The youngsters are behaving in a way unacceptable to the elders of the family or group, so one of the elder males smacks them down as a reiteration of the hierarchy--the youth have not earned the right to be disrespectful to the elders. This is not punitive for the sake of being punitive; it's instructive.

Depending on their age, if these "punk kids" could be reasonably remonstrated with, they wouldn't be out on the streets throwing eggs at people and they wouldn't take umbrage at being called on it, because they'd have had a proper upbringing and would know better, so to speak. I am assuming CB's friend sized up these variables before deciding a physical reproof would work better than a "good talking to." In some circumstances, the only language that works is violence, I am sorry to say. Maybe that wasn't the case here, but I give CB's friend the benefit of the doubt.

I nearly died when someone unloaded a garbage truck on me not too long ago.

I decided to start a juice feast for forgiveness--my mind and body needed a rest. Every time I ran something through the juicer, I thought about forgiveness... what medicine!

I was gifted a deck of flower spirit cards--kind of like tarot cards, but, all positive and about flowers. I wanted to do a reading the day I started my feast, so I started shuffling, shuffling...

Two cards fell out: Oriental Poppy - Abundance! And Buttercup - Gratitude!

I am feeling quite well now. =)

Quote

That said, I also feel that there is a line to be drawn where ones actions create more disharmony than they correct. I think that this line may be determined more by the intention of the administer, rather than the physical action that is taken. I'd also look beyond the direct action reaction equation as well. What part does the victim have in the situation ?

Also, in a situation like the one you mention about the egg throwing, they may not throw any more eggs, but where else may that hostility reemerge ? Does that beat up perpetrator become more balanced as a person ? Do they becone less disfuctional in society as a whole ? What is truely achieved ?

All good questions. I think taking a hit as opposed to the usual laugh & some poor saps expense may have him asking such questions himself. Usually it takes a jolt of some sort.