Of the many essays, reports, and stories that I have read over the many years of my High School education, perhaps none have stimulated my mind than the essay written by Lars Eighner. His essay was based upon his life as a dumpster diver, and he examined every aspect of this type of living. From the dangers and hardships of living off garbage, to the simple methods Eighner used in his scavenging, Eighner wrote what could be called an instruction manual to a life of extreme poverty. Yet the essay is so much more.

The first aspect of "On Dumpster Diving" that makes it such a profound piece of writing is that it is written in a style that one finds, most often, in professional writers. Mr. Eighner writes with the fluency of an accomplished author, thus shattering the stereotype of an "uneducated beggar." Mr. Eighner's essay also...