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The Difference
"But the difference here is between garbage and trash, refuse and ruin.

The definition of garbage is wasted or spoiled refuse, something containing oil or fat that has become rancid or spoiled. The thing about garbage is that it trashes everything that it touches and once the rank, often toxic stink sinks in, it's ruined for quite a while, usually until someone cleans it.

In America the basis of comparative worth analysis has created a term 'trash' that generally mans someone of lesser socio-economic value in a given system. Anything can be trashed, from new cars to the beaches that people flock to. The funny thing is, most people don't have to be told when something of value is trashed. It's a bit marred, discolored or just 'off' and one person's trash is another's treasure but garbage?

Ask anyone that lives within miles of a landfill and they can tell you the difference. It doesn't particularly point to the fact that it's dirty because dirt and sand can become so microscopic that you can't even keep it out of your refrigerator. Depending on where you live it's possible you spent your entire life with dust in the cracks of your face and in your pores, causing the oil to aggravate and cause blemish. People are judged on such things which is unfortunate. Spoiled however, it's something that you can sense in the air and smell on anything or anyone.

Trash is something discarded or someone of low social standing that isn't an additive to society and therefore has been discarded. Spoiled
is like something in your refrigerator that you didn't realize had become rancid because of the environment it was kept in. Trash is certainly the same way but many times in the other direction like a Ming era piece of crockery that was trash then is still trash, but lucky trash.

Garbage however can sit and fester for quite a long time given the environment, until it starts to trash enough area or smell bad enough that someone finally takes notice of it and because of their displeasure decides that it needs to be removed.

Depending on the environment and how busy people are, their ability to do anything about it, there's a real chance said it can become infectious or toxic, more dangerous due to regular contact being the norm. Once the smell is something that everyone has gotten used to an accepted, it's just another landfill." He snipped another half-dead leaf he had cut in half last week off and watched it drift down onto the table.

"We were discussing what you felt was wrong with the world and the fact that you didn't think that anything was going to change."

"We still are. Did you eat yet?" He shoved the old meat aside and pulled the lettuce and tomatoes out thinking a honey mustard salad might taste good as he opened the fridge and reminded himself to wash the lettuce as he heard the leaf blower start up next door.
© Satu