I hate this...

“I hate this. Every time I go to work I have to deal with the warring factions. The petty people. The masses who seek feeling superior to others. Baselessly. They look for reasons to fight. It makes life difficult for no reason. 

I don’t mind hard work. I don’t mind difficult situations. Situations that require finesse or clever solutions. I hate the endless arguing. Arguing now for a chance at a possible future benefit.

I want to spend my time with family. I don’t want to give up family time hoping for something good to happen in the future. Fighting is ridiculous.

You know me, I’m Luka. Everyone knows me. I’m the trash can man. I own my one man janitorial services company ‘The Trash Can Man Corp.’ I was going to name my company ‘The Trash Man Corp’ but I added ‘can’ because of the alliteration ‘can man’ and also I want everyone to know that I have a ‘CAN DO’ attitude. I just want to do my job, the best I can, get a fair wage for it, and get back to my family. Work is not life. Family is.

Why am I telling you this? Because it directly relates to the incident you’re grilling me about. I take no one’s side. Except my family. It’s why I am innocent and feel this interrogation is unwarranted and should be ended immediately, like right now.

You know, I focus on work so I can get back to my family sooner. The world can be burning around me. But what can I do. Nothing! It is burning now, it was burning then, it’s been burning forever. 

There is little I can do except my work. I play the role of a cog in the machine so I can take care of my family. 

Everyone else forms into groups and stokes hate to build group bonds. Hate helps people validate their choice of sides as correct. Meaninglessly. No one is correct. Every side has its good and bad parts. It’s heroes and villains. Every group is steeped in a never ending delusion of I'm right, I'm good, and I'm superiority. It's all just bullshit.

In reality, there is no group. Only people. And the actions people take.

I only get one life and I want to enjoy it with my loved ones. That is why I work instead of fight or argue. I’ve learned no one can hate their way to success. A hug is better than a logical argument. A kind deed is better than a logical rationalization. The Deltas and Zebras need hate to feel valuable. I just need work and family.

I can’t be productive if I spend time hating. It’s wasted time burned up in the heat of bickering with no work products created or earned. A group is only good if it produces work product and cares for families. All families. When I leave my area my station is free of trash. You can count on it. I don’t need a flag or a song to rally behind. I stand behind... my work.

I personally don’t even know many of these people. Why should I hate them? The groups I dislike. But the people, what have they done to me? A flag waving Delta will hate a chanting Zebra. And a chanting Zebra a flag waving Delta; for no other reason than their corporation’s brand colors and slogans. It’s a sad way to burn up minutes of precious life. 

I’m a brother of 16 children. I learned from a young age that no matter how smart I think I am, someone is smarter. No matter how dumb I think I am, someone is dumber. We are all humans. What sets us apart is what we work on and the family we grow.

Once I understood that life is not the group you’re in, I began to understand what life really is. Life is what you do with your time. And that’s the reason I don’t waste my time. I don't fight, argue, or bicker. Time is too valuable.

I spend as much of my time with my family as I can. I contribute to society, by cleaning venues, so people can enjoy entertainment, hold meetings, and gather. And I play. I sing, dance, and play. I enjoy my life. It’s the only one I will get, right?

I seek opportunities to do positive things. Not for ego. Not for public adoration. But to benefit myself, my family, and others like me. And when I say, ‘like me’, I mean humans.

Knocking others down does not lift me up. But cleaning and organizing trash the way I do is, in my view, the way I see it, is noble work. I've done nothing wrong.

Can I go now?”

“I just have a few questions for you. Tell me what happened, slowly, step by step, one more time.” Said, Cyndi Mattox chief of security at Walker National Stadium. 

“Ok. The stadium is big. Alex the Ace had just finished his concert. And we began cleaning and organizing the trash like we always do. 

Tonight, there were three companies. Delta Trash Co, Zebra Waste Disposal Co, and me, The Trash Can Man… corp.  

Typically we divide the stadium into three sections, roll up our sleeves and get to work. We not only clean but also organize the trash for recycling. Paper here, aluminum there, etc. 

It’s a simple job. Yet, people pretend the work is complex to act superior to other groups. Delta is ‘bagless’. Zebra is ‘we work as one’. Everyone has their theory and ideas. Ego is not a your friend in the trash business. It’s a simple business. And I know the secret is to just work the work. No chanting, no slogans, no flag waving. Just work the work. Trash in the bag.

I always start at the top of the stadium and wind my way down to the field. Efficiency helps me spend less time working and more time with my family. Delta and Zebra put on a show to make themselves seem different/superior. In reality, we’re all just people who pick up trash.

Delta and Zebra were on the field; Delta was at the home side where the stage is and Zebra at the visitors side. Typically paper, aluminum, and plastic is sorted into big piles that are placed center field. Then we use shovels to move the piles into palleted bins for final removal by fork lift.

The concert ended at 2am and all cleaners got access to the field by 3am. I can begin sooner because as soon as a concert ends everyone wants to get out of the nose bleed sections. I start there so I finish sooner and get home earlier. Working the seats is harder but family is more important to me than the easier work on the field. Which is why I begin there.

I’m efficient, right? I also like to watch the magic of concert goers exiting and crews beginning the tear down. It’s like a big machine with tiny people, the size of ants, working together to put the stadium back to its team ready pristine state. 

I had completed the first 3 top level rows when Delta and Zebra came in. They were yelling and hollering as they usually do. Think about it. Trash people acting like rockstars. We move trash, that’s all. Nothing fancy.

But tonight there were new noises too. And it felt different. “ 

“Luka, what do you mean, ‘felt different?’”

“Glass sounds. Football Baby glass different. You know, the song?

Look, Zebra always comes in chanting ‘Zee-bra, Zee-bra, Zee-bra is the best!’ Over and over. It used to bother me but now it fades into the background and I just focus on my work. Delta is usually loud, they yell constantly. Because for some dumb reason each Delta is only allowed to pick up one type of trash! Delta is a constant scream of “GLASS HERE”, “PLASTIC HERE”, “PAPER HERE”. It’s stupid. And Delta throws their trash at the pile. Zebra bags and tags like I do.”

“Bags and tags?” Asked Cyndi.

“Yeah, I put paper in a bag marked paper, plastic in the plastic bag and etc. But Delta doesn’t use bags. They just throw the trash at the piles on the center of the field. People group together over the stupidest things. And this is Delta’s stupid thing.

Normally it wouldn’t matter. It just makes Delta less efficient. But tonight we had glass. Lots of glass. Usually we don’t get much glass. 

Alex’s concerts are different because he thinks plastic is evil. So all his drinks are served in glass or aluminum bottles. No plastic cups here. And his biggest song, ‘Football Baby’, is the reason his drink glasses are shaped like a football. Both his aluminum and glass bottles are shaped like footballs. 

The difference was the sound of the glass and aluminum hitting their piles. While you can’t really get a good throw with a regular glass, paper or plastic cup. Boy of boy, you could throw a heavy football shaped glass like a quarterback going for the final winning touchdown. 

At about 3:45am I heard a crack and a scream. Zebra stopped chanting in a shocked gasp. I looked at the field and saw a Zebra flat on the floor and the Zebra running toward them. Delta was still screaming and lobbing glass and aluminum footballs toward the piles. Clueless as to what happened on the other side. They didn’t know a glass bottle hit a Zebra.

As I watched the Zebra’s tending to their injured worker I saw a glass football hit the top of the glass pile and rain down shards of glass on the group of Zebras.

In an instant all the Zebras ran to the Delta side of the field and started to beat the first Delta they saw. That Delta didn’t even throw the inciting glass. And none of the Delta’s knew why the Zebras were attacking. But they began fighting back. It was insanity.

I wanted to do something. But realized there was nothing I could do. No matter what I did, the two companies, the two groups, were going to fight until they decided to stop.

Telling the Deltas, one of them hurt a Zebra, would not stop stop the fight. They'd just say the Zebra's attacked them.

Telling the Zebra’s it was an unintentional accident wouldn’t stop the fight. They'd say the Delta's hurt their friend.

Both sides telling a true but fractured story.

Once the fighting began, there was nothing anyone could do to break it up.

I feel bad for both sides. I do. I know the negative impact the fighting has on each side and the people involved. We all just want to get our work done and go home to our families. 

The Deltas and the Zebras have been fighting for years. Very aggressive competitors. With years of anger stoked by a litany of real and perceived wrongs.

All who were alive when the hate first began were now long dead. And no one alive was now looking for a solution, for peace. The Deltas and Zebras were in a constant battle to the detriment of all. 

The only thing I could do was get my work done and go home to my family. While I feel bad for everyone involved I know I can only take care of my family. So I just kept working.”

“Can you tell me anything about which Zebra’s attacked the Delta? This is important, Luka.”

“I really can’t. I was at about 10 rows down from the top of the stadium at this point. Everyone looks like an ant from up there. All Delta in their blue shirts and yellow pants. All Zebra in their white shirts and black pants. Each one looked like everyone else in their group. Nothing distinguished them as unique or individual. Just two oceans of groupies. Hating each other for reasons that apply to the group but not the individual.

But why are you grilling me Mrs. Mattox?”

“Luka, the Zebra died. And so did 3 Deltas. Dozens are in the hospital.”

“What? Oh no. An accident turned into a tragedy. People’s families destroyed for no good reason. This is supposed to be work. You show up. You contribute a portion of your life to it and then spend the rest having fun and raising your family. You’re never supposed to die for a job. You’re supposed work and then go home. Why? What happened?”

“Yeah, the first thrown bottle cracked the Zebra’s skull and killed him. And the Zebras then fought with the Deltas and three Deltas were bludgeoned to death. Over a dozen people are in the hospital. We know you didn’t do anything wrong. You weren’t even on the field. But we need to figure out who is responsible for killing the poor bastards who died.”

“Mrs. Mattox…”

“Call me Cyndi.”

“Mrs. Mattox, if you’re asking me, it’s the system that killed them.”

“No. Luka. It was the person who threw the first bottle that killed the Zebra and the Zebra’s who bludgeoned the Deltas who are guilty.”

“People are competitive by nature. Pitting 3 companies against each other to earn money creates unnecessary competition. It leads to chest puffing; like Zebra’s chanting. And Deltas with their zero bag idea. Both stupid ideas to rally around. 

With competition you need an enemy to hate to increase your group’s bond. So Zebras hate Deltas and Deltas hate Zebras. It’s nonsense. Hate for the sake of feeling superior.

People promoting different viewpoints just to be part of a group for no good reason other than status hopping. Delta’s aren’t better than anyone because they are bagless. Zebra’s aren’t the best at anything because they chant. We’re all just people in the trash biz. At the end of the day, we pickup and sort the trash. That’s it.

And we’d all be better off just focusing on the accomplishment of our meaningful work. Not on fighting each other. Not by pretending we’re better than others. We’re all just people. We need to accept that. 

Mrs. Mattox, can I go now? I still need to finish my work.”

“Yes, thank you for your time. The Delta’s and Zebra’s are no longer allowed in the stadium so you can do all the work and get all the fees too. If you'd like.”

“No. No, thank you. I’m happy with the work I have. The contract I won is enough for me. Contact the 4^th and 5^th best bidders and offer them the work. Many people need to eat. Remember that. Everyone needs to eat. One company taking all the work is not great for society. Share the work, not the hate. Focus on meaning, positivity, productivity, and getting back to your family. That is what I want to see Mrs. Maddox.

Mrs. Mattox, if I could, could I please, ask you to do me one favor.”

“Sure, what do you want, Luka?”

“Please, ban the chanting. We need more work, more efficiency. Not more chanting. The last thing we need is chanting. Please, let’s just focus on work so we can get back to family. Okay?”

“Sure, Luka. I hate the chanting too.”