Kang Dong Wan can often be found combing the beaches of South Korean islands. He’s not looking for shells, coins, or for driftwood, though; he’s looking for trash.
The trash this 48-year-old university professor is looking for is that which washes ashore from neighboring North Korea. That nation has been more isolated than usual since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The trash that Kang collects gives him insight into life inside that closed society.
Items that Kang collects range from candy wrappers to detergent bags or soda bottles. These items give the professor insight into how North Korea is trying to supply the goods its citizens crave, though those goods are decidedly inferior in quality and their claims overblown. One wrapper for a walnut snack cake, for example, claimed that it is more nutritious than meat. Another item showed that tree leaves were being used to sweeten the product, suggesting a national shortage of sugar.
Kang has been ridiculed by friends and family members for his trash collecting, but he has already published one book on his findings. He has found that you can learn much about people by studying their trash.
What might our trash say about us and our values? If a professor came to our house asking for our weekly collection of garbage, would we hand it over? Or would we be too embarrassed?
John issued this warning in 1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John wasn’t speaking of a love of nature; that “world” is worthy of our attention and study. The world we are not to love is the sinful side of life, represented by “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Paul’s admonition to “not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) is the same idea.
Satan knows which bait to use when he goes fishing. James 1:14,15 makes that clear: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Some are lured by drugs, others by sex, and still others by money or power. Before we know it, we’re hooked.
Trash seems to be a necessary by-product of life. But if we take time to sift through our garbage, will we find that our values are fashioned by God or by the world? The words of Colossians 3:1,2 ought to guide us each day: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth.” As my values change, so will the evidence in my trash bin. Anyone who bothers to look will see that here is a life unlike that of others, a life transformed by Christ (Romans 12:2).
Come to the light God offers! Study His word, the Bible. Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.
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Copyright, 2022, Timothy D. Hall