"Waste Land"

(Note: Unrelated to stuttering, but still important!)

“It’s not a pretty place… unless you look from far away.”

These were the words spoken by Vic Muniz in the film “Waste Land” as he looked out over the landscape of Rio de Janeiro. Though the Brazilian city is famous for its vacation paradises, it is also home to Jardim Gramacho, one of the largest garbage disposal sites in the world. Muniz set out on a mission to spend time there, learn about the people, and embark on another one of his creative projects that combine art and social issues.

While watching the stories of the people living there unfold, I began to feel more and more attached to them and their futures. I started to root for the pickers, who earn their living by collecting recyclables from the waste. I cried for the 18-year-old mother of two who threw up after seeing a dead child in the heaps of trash. I respected the choice that people made to work there, over prostitution or starvation, despite the difficulties and hardship that came with it.

These people live with rats while I watched them from a flat-screen TV inside the library of a school that is offering me an education that most of them could only dream of. I watched men pick up books out of the trash like treasure, while the shelves of literature surrounding me only solidified the message that was pouring from each story shown: I do not appreciate all that I have. And beyond that- I am naïve to what most of the world lacks.

I finished the film feeling motivated to change that, in every way possible. I need to appreciate and utilize all the opportunities that I have; I must educate myself on the situations of others. There are countless places that look pretty from far away. Now is the time to start looking closer.

(To watch the film, search for “Waste Land” in your Netflix instant queue)