Cleanup Day

     It was a beautiful day in South Jersey today - one of those early fall days (even though it's not officially fall yet!), where the temperature cools off despite the sunny, blue skies.  On such a nice day, I wanted to find an act of kindness that I could do outdoors, so I decided it would be a good day to go back to a playground for some trash pickup.  I chose a great community playground we have in Moorestown called Fullerton Park.

     I grabbed a plastic trash bag and a pair of gloves and headed over to the park.  It was late afternoon/early evening and the park was peaceful with a handful of mostly mothers watching their small children play on the different equipment.  I quietly walked around the entire park picking up small pieces of garbage wherever I saw any.  The park does have lots of garbage cans and recycling containers and they generally seemed to be used so the park was definitely not filled with litter.  And yet, when you go looking for it, you see plenty of it everywhere.  I think the most common thing I found was plastic wrappers from juice boxes and straws.  For some reason, these somehow don't seem to make it into the garbage cans.  I'm not sure what people thought who saw me picking up trash - perhaps they figured I was working off a community service sentence?!  In any event, I didn't mind at all, as it was just a beautiful day to be outside doing something useful.      

     This particular park is one of my favorite sites because it was a park built entirely by volunteers in a sort of Amish barn-building kind of 5-day effort.  It's actually the second time it was built - both times all done by volunteers.  I was a key leader in the process the first time (1992) and it remains the most satisfying community activity in which I've ever been a part.  The park was rebuilt (due to some new safety issues) just last year and I did spend a little time there helping out, though it was mostly a new generation of young parents who played pivotal roles this time.  

     I'll never forget the sense of community I felt when literally hundreds of people worked together day and night, eating their meals together, laughing and sweating together, and enjoying each other's company for the sake of our children.  Being at the park is always a reminder of that feeling for me.

"Back" in Business

     I'm thrilled to report that my back is much better today and that I was able to get back out on the street to do my acts of kindness (rather than being relegated to my computer).  It was such a beautiful spring-type day that I had to do something outside, so I did something that had been in my mind for awhile.

     I grabbed a plastic garbage bag, donned a pair of work gloves, and headed over to a local community playground to pick up trash.  To be fair, the area wasn't a total mess, but it's amazing how much miscellaneous garbage is lying on the ground if you're paying attention to it.  I found lots of scraps of paper, candy wrappers, and most disturbingly, plenty of cigarette butts.  Without wanting to be sanctimonious here, cigarette butts are definitely one of my pet peeves.  I just cannot fathom how people can simply toss them on the ground as if they will somehow disappear on their own, or someone else will pick them up for them.  In any case, I picked up lots of them, filled a good portion of a trash bag, and then threw it all away.  

     The playground is a beautiful one, built by community volunteers, and it has many trash and recycle containers all around - so it's hard to imagine why there would be any trash.  But this is one of those places where what I "should" or "shouldn't" have to do is truly irrelevant.  You simply do what needs to be done.  And to be totally honest, it was such a gorgeous day, that I didn't mind at all.  It was just a pleasure to be out and to see so many families enjoying such innocent play.