Compost and Metaphors
You know what I love? Composting.
Know what else I love? Metaphors.
What do metaphors and composting have in common? Well, let me tell you this story.
I’m really into urban composting. About a year ago I found out that my city’s waste management program provides compost pickups and immediately ordered a bin for my home owners association. I was so excited! It’s such an easy way to keep decomposable stuff out of landfills.
I finally got to use my little green composting pail with a lid and holes all around it for air to circulate. I line it with a decomposable bag and keep it under the sink, filling it with food scraps that would otherwise go in the garbage disposal or garbage can. Every few days I take the bag outside to my community’s bin and feel green and happy for the rest of the day.
I am diligent about composting. I’m also in kind of a rut about what I eat, so I mostly fill it with banana peels, carrot trimmings and egg shells. And lately, whatever soft food my cat doesn’t finish eating each day. It was only a few months ago that I discovered that Milo’s wet food containers are recyclable. How could I not have known this?! Having sent hundreds of those little tins to a landfill over the years is awful. To help make up for it, I began composting his leftovers instead of adding them to the garbage disposal sludge.
The whole system has worked out very well. But last week was different. I’d been off of my routine, not feeling that great, and let my little compost pail fill up for an extra day or so. I finally went to empty it last Monday.
You know what happens next, don’t you?
When I lifted the bag from the pail, it had already started decomposing and leaked rotten-smelling liquid onto the floor. And maggots. Thick, pale, squirming maggots.
I quickly put the whole mess into a shopping bag and took it to the dumpster. Cleaned and disinfected the floor. Washed out the compost pail and put it in the dishwasher. Scrubbed my hands.
Later that day, I put Milo’s leftover food down the garbage disposal. Which immediately started leaking under the sink.
Fortunately a plumber came the next day and replaced the disposal system. He gave me a tool that rotates the grinders in case they get clogged, told me to fill up the basin and drain it once per week, and said to keep out coffee grounds and orange peels. It seems fine so far. But it got me thinking how strange it was to have two garbage problems within hours. That’s where my love of metaphors comes in.
I hadn’t been feeling good because of some personal “garbage”. The garbage accumulated to the point that it made an ugly mess. I dealt with the mess as best as I could, but the system in place (the garbage disposal) didn’t work. So I had to get outside help from experts. The experts addressed the immediate problem and provided tools and advice so that I’m better equipped to manage garbage issues in the future.
I like this metaphor because it can be applied to many circumstances. Some garbage causes messes that we can resolve on our own and be done with. Other times it is beyond our scope and requires specialists.
As for me, I’m happy to be back to a manageable level of literal and metaphorical garbage.
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