Crusade

     I am haunted by the terrible sight I saw on the news this week.  It was in a parking lot, near the Salvation Army collection receptacles.  The bins, multiple bins, were stuffed to overflowing.   Worse still, the areas, in proximity to the bins, and far beyond, were strewn with stuff:   bags, boxes, filled garbage bags, dishes, pictures, couches, chairs, skis, bicycles, mattresses, baby equipment, chairs, toys, books, knickknacks.  Name it: it was there, on the ground, recently rained on.  The news story was,"Are there too many donations?"  The answer has to be yes.  In this case, the community had held a village wide weekend garage sale, and in many, or apparently most, cases, the unsold stuff had been donated or dumped near the Salvation Army donation bins.  The Salvation Army spokesman assured the reporter that everything would be picked up by the end of the next day, and I'm sure that happened.  I would suspect most of it would be deemed garbage after its time in the rain.  The S.A. probably had to accept responsibility for the dumped donations, even though it's clearly written on the bins not to leave anything outside them.  The problem is caused by too much stuff.  Everybody has too much stuff.  Way more than is needed. 
       A solution would be to collect all garage sale items and crush them, to forbid dollar stores and souvenir shops to sell all that crap, and to prevent people from buying more clothes or linens or such until they can prove that their old items have worn out. Doesn't it tell us something when every single magazine, every talk show runs a feature on how to de-clutter?  Too much stuff is a nightmare!