Introduction to Dumpster Driving
On Dumpster Diving is simply a small piece of Lars Eighner’s memorial called Travels with Lizbeth: Three Years on the Road and on the Streets. Published in 1993, On Dumpster Diving is based on Eighner’s own personal experiences of being homeless and surviving out of a dumpster. The first few lines of the essay itself are enough to capture the interest of the reader since majority of the people have remotely heard of the word ‘dumpster diving’ or ‘scavenging’ before. In this essay, Eighner gives the reader a detailed overview of how to survive simply on a dumpster. As one reads through the essay, he or she is forced to ask themselves whether teaching us these survival rules was the only objective of this essay. However, as the essay as well as the story progresses, one realizes the actual message and concept behind Eighner’s essay. Eighner’s essay explains and elaborates the wasteful and the selfish nature of the vast population living in America. Through this essay, Eighner tries to deliver a very important message to his readers – the immorality and the selfishness involved in throwing out food that can be used by the wealthy and the rich when thousands of people living in America are suffering from poverty and starvation. According to Eighner, this selfish nature found within the American Society is based upon three different aspects – materialistic values, ignorance and the inability to understand.
Materialism and On Dumpster Diving
Everyone has met materialistic people at some point in their life. Materialistic individuals always want the best of the best – whether it is the latest car or the most expensive phone. However, even when their demands are met, these individuals are seldom happy. These individuals tend to focus on all those things that they do not own and forget about the latest gadgets that they do possess. According to Eighner, materialistic people are lost, unsure and uncertain of what they actually want in life. In some way or the other, Eighner has tried to deliver a message to his readers that in order to be happy and content, one needs to know exactly what he or she wants from life. Materialistic people are often confused with those who are clever and intelligent and think in a very sentimental way. It is only natural to be smart enough to realize what the things that provide personal benefit are and the others must be left for the benefits of others. There were times when Eighner only collected those things that added value to his life and left the others for the use of the other individuals. Studies and researches have shown that materialistic individuals tend to be more sad and depressed than others. It is true that the twenty first century has brought with itself huge technological advancements. However, such advancements and modernism has made people in secure and now everyone wishes to get the latest product launched in the market – it does not take long for the most valuable asset to become valueless. Eighner has also mentioned the very same point in his essay On Dumpster Diving and states “Almost everything I have now has already been cast at least once, proving that what I own is valueless to someone” (Eighner).
Ignorance and On Dumpster Diving
Another very selfish and common trait found amongst the American society is ignorance. The reason why people are still dying of poverty and starvation in America is not because the country is not rich enough to support the less fortunate ones, but in fact, the people of the United States are very ignorant. A very common practice shown by the rich people within the American society is that even food that can be used is usually thrown out just because such families have enough money to buy new food. These people do not even stop for a minute to think about the less fortunate ones. They do not put in any effort to change their ignorant attitude to a considerate one. Eighner has also talked about this particular unreasonable and ignorant attitude of the American society. The biggest contributor to this trait are the college students who do not have any sense of responsibility individually as well as when it comes to being a citizen of a country. Eighner’s statement that “Students throw out many good things including food…the item was thrown out of carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness” is sufficient proof to support the argument that college students in fact contribute the most to make poverty in America even worse. Scavengers like Eighner can get hold of many different and valuable goods in the dumpsters such as “boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter, a virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars” (Eighner). The point that Eighner is trying to make over here is that despite knowing the fact that people are indeed poor and suffering and even dying due to starvation, the wealthy and rich are extremely unreasonable and inhuman.
Work, Responsibility and On Dumpster Diving
The rich claim that they have gathered this amount of wealth through their own hard work and responsibility. However, when people have more than what they need, they are socially responsible to help the less unfortunate ones as well. Unfortunately, more than 60 percent of the American society lacks such sort of understanding. It is not wrong to think about your own family’s future before thinking about the future of other families; however, if you are financially strong enough to help the poor and the needy, then you are socially obliged to do so. If such an understanding is somehow drilled into the minds of the rich and the wealthy, the problem of poverty within America can eventually be solved.
Conclusion
Even though On Dumpster Diving is an individual’s personal story of being homeless and surviving on dumpsters, it does represent thousands of poor and needy people within the American Society. People surviving on dumpsters are similar to the rich and wealthy in one aspect – they both can get whatever they like. However, money does not stand in the way of only one of them. If only the rich and the wealthy can be a little considerate, the problem of poverty within America can be easily solved. Poverty and death toll due to starvation in America has increased over the years because the people of this nation are ignorant, materialistic and do not have the ability to understand their social responsibilities.
Works Cited
- Eighner, Lars. “On Dumpster Diving.” Readings: An Anthology. Ed. Santi V. Buscemi and Charlotte Smith. 9th ed. Boston: McGraw, 2004. 161-173. Print.
