Tuesday, October 30, 2007

One Word: tiger

Word submitted by Alejo

Plastic always has seemed like one of the necessary evils of the world. When you see it floating across a landfill, you know it's waste. When you see a huge colorful toy in a display at a store in the holidays, you know that that will be waste.

When plastic burns, it smells, and it's toxic. Leave plastic on a hot kitchen stove with no ventilation in the room, and you could easily poison yourself.

Yet, to a child like Stephen, a little plastic tiger from a fast food restaurant was his joy.

When Stephen was 6, his parents had divorced and that tiger was the last gift they gave to him together before the split. It became a symbol for Stephen, of possibility, and of hope.  Whenever he saw couples split up as he grew, he looked at his tiger and thought of the promise of togetherness, of union, of hope.

Eventually, that hope saw him through, and when he turned 26, he was married to a lovely brunette who would be faithful to him until the end.

The small, plastic tiger stood on their bedpost, looking on, fulfilling its promise.


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