It was a large piece of plastic. It was shaped sort of like some sort of stand, but with jutting pieces in various places which made it impossible to prop anything up on, thus using it as such. There was something rather unusual about this stand. This is, it was animate. It couldn't move around or anything, but it could think, and have emotional reactions to it's exterior stimulae. This wasn't unusual as such, since everything humans think aren't animate, in fact, are.
It was sad, because it didn't really have a purpose. It didn't ever feel itself being used or anything, and for an inanimate object, this is the worst thing possible. It was just a lump of plastic created and shaped by an inept shop student. Said student was going to give it to his father as a gift, but it was too useless and aesthetically unpleasing. So, he threw it in a bin full of useless plastic pieces, which wasn't the best atmosphere for an object of this disposition. Sort of like putting a suicidal man in a single's bar.
One day, someone took it out of the bin by chance, to melt it down and perhaps build something useful. The plastic ceased to exist, but it's molecules went into the production of a purposeful, and happy, ashtray.