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A little boy had a unique request for Make-A-Wish: to be a garbage man.

Like a lot of kids who work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, 6-year-old Ethan Dean desperately wanted to meet one of his heroes.

Ethan has cystic fibrosis, which can make life pretty challenging. But that hasn't stopped him from doing a lot of the stuff his friends do: singing, taking music classes, and even playing soccer.

But while other kids his age might dream of meeting star athletes, rock stars, and superheroes, Ethan looks up to a different kind of hero all together:


The men and women who keep our streets clean.

Ethan has been fascinated with garbage trucks and the everyday heroes who operate them for as long as his parents can remember.

Riding off into the sunset. Photo via iStock.

His dad, Ken, said that even as an infant and toddler, Ethan was fascinated by the trucks.

"Whenever he'd hear the garbage truck picking up trash cans outside, he'd come running up or down the stairs to look at it. From there, eventually, I would take him outside to watch."

And it wasn't Hot Wheels or G.I. Joes that Ethan wanted come Christmas time. He had an entire collection of toy garbage haulers that kept him occupied for hours on end.

"He'd play around and take small pieces of paper and put them in the back of the trucks and take them to the 'dump,'" Ken said.

"I want to be a garbage man when I grow up," said Ethan. "It's awesome!"

So Make-A-Wish teamed up with Waste Management in Sacramento, California, to bring Ethan's dream to life.

All photos by XSiGHT Studio and used with permission, unless otherwise specified.

"I think they were very surprised," Ken said about the moment Make-A-Wish learned about Ethan's ... different request.

But they pulled it together in tremendous fashion.

On the big day in late July, a huge crowd of people surprised Ethan outside his elementary school and cheered him on.

The mayor of Sacramento was even on hand to give Ethan a key to the city.

Then, Ethan suited up in uniform.

He hopped into a truck with his name on the side in huge letters — Ethan's Garbage Truck — and headed off on his great adventure.


Then it was time to get to work.

Ethan and his crew made five stops throughout the city, picking up garbage and recycling, leaving nothing but clean streets in their wake.

It was an incredible experience for Ethan, but he's not the only one who'll remember the day forever.

"It's a dream come true for me really. I think it's wonderful," truck operator Sam Turman told KCRA. "Humbled. Absolutely humbled."

Ethan's dad heard that one of the crew members even had trouble sleeping the night before — that's how excited he was to be a part of something so special.

Ethan's story is a great reminder that heroes are everywhere.

And though it might seem like certain folks get overlooked, you never know who's paying attention.

Ken said Ethan has been absolutely glowing over the experience for days. Waste Management even gave him a 3-foot-wide Dumpster to add to his toy collection, which Ken enthusiastically explained now resides in the Dean's living room.

And to think, all it took to make a little kid forget about his disease, for a short while at least, was a day hanging out with a couple of garbage collectors.

Finally. Proof that not all heroes wear capes.

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

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Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

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Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

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The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

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