Death of a Toy

So my son decided to clean out his room. Any toys he didn't want would go to charity, except for the broken ones, which would go in the trash. Well, one of the broken ones was a Johnny Apple Bot - which is a robot in the shape of an apple. I never was quite sure of the purpose of it. Anyway, it has a motion sensor and talks to you. Yesterday I went out to throw something in the outside trash cans when I hear this strange noise. At first I wasn't sure what it was, then I thought it sounded like someone talking, then I realized that his Johnny Apple Bot (which I didn't know was thrown away) got activated in the trash can and still had good batteries. It was sitting there going "Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

Kind of sad actually. This abandoned toy crying out for someone to play with it. Not willing to give up just because it was buried in the bottom of a trash bag.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

I pulled the bag out and he stopped is cries for attention, but it was obvious he was in the bottom of a bag, and I didn't want to dig through the bag of trash to put him out of his misery. I dropped the bag back into the can. His sirens song continued.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

My son seemed unaffected by this. He informed me in a matter of fact manner that mom said broken toys went in the trash, and it was broken. So as we spent the greater part of Saturday working outside on various tasks, every time I walked by the side of the house I would hear Johnny's pleas to be saved from the doom that awaited him.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

This gave me a number of chances to reflect on how little my kids play with their higher tech toys, but tend to be absorbed by low tech toys and various odds and ends. Little nick-nacks they pilfer from mom and dad's room or the den seem to be some of their favorite toys. I usually wonder if we were to give permission for them to have them if they would immediately loose interest.

"Hello. . . .Hello. . . .Hello. . . ."

Poor Johnny. Should I dig him out and put him out of his misery? Removing his batteries would do the trick, but so might a hammer or a slight rotation in how he sits in the bag. Should I repair him and see if my son, or some other child would be entertained with his high tech talents?

With little ceremony he finally stopped. I asked Dawn and she said she didn't do anything with him. I am left to assume either his batteries finally died, or his little heart gave up. Unable to deal with having his pleas ignored he surrendered to the doom that awaits him.

I would imagine that high tech toys are more often sent the land fill, while low tech toys are more often handed down. Maybe if Johnny wasn't a robot he would have moved on to a new home. He was betrayed by his high tech electronic heart. The very ability that allowed him to make that final plea for help from the trash can beside our house was the very thing that doomed him to his untimely demise in the first place.

UPDATE: I got an email from the designer of the Johnny Applebot.