Cleaning Up Trash

     It was a beautiful Spring day today so I decided it would be a good to spend some time outdoors cleaning up trash from a playground.  I had arranged to play golf with some friends mid-morning, and since I would be passing an area park on my way home from the course, I figured that would be as good a place as any for my act of kindness.  Knowing this was my afternoon plan, I threw a pair of work gloves and a plastic trash bag into my car as I headed out.
     When I pulled into the playground parking lot and got out of my car, the first thing I noticed was some loose change lying on the ground.  I picked up the change and put it in my pocket, figuring if I found the right young person, I could give it to them as a surprise treat.  With my gloves on and my bag in hand, I began to work my way through the parking lot toward the playground, picking up trash as I walked.

     It's surprising that even an area that looks reasonably clean at first glance is often strewn with more trash than you can imagine.  When you're there to clean it up, you start to notice it everywhere you look.  I picked up tons of empty bottles, cigarette butts, hamburger wrappers, loose papers, straws, bottle caps and a variety of other discarded items.  It truly is hard to imagine how people can simply toss their trash on the ground, especially when there are lots of garbage cans distributed throughout the entire park.  Regardless, I've worked hard to refrain from judgments as I do my acts of kindness and today was no exception.  Other than that brief thought which was more curiosity than judgment, I just focused on picking up what was there.  I probably spent 45-60 minutes cleaning up and filled most of a garbage bag.
     By the way, I did find a cute young girl playing on the seesaw to whom I offered the loose change.  She was so happy to accept it.  The best thing though, was that 20 minutes later she brought me some trash that she had picked up to be thrown into my bag!  Perhaps my simple example had a meaningful impact on her.


Incidentally, my project has received some nice coverage lately.  For those who may not have seen the article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday, here's a link to it.  Also, the project was featured on CBS Eyewitness News this evening. Here's a link to that piece.
   

"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.

The Fallacy of "Should"

     Today I did a few things that I "shouldn't" have to do, which led to some interesting thoughts.  Here's what happened:

     I went out to do a few errands this afternoon, including dropping something off for a neighbor and then doing some grocery shopping.  As I got out of my car at the neighbor's house, I noticed an empty cigarette pack laying in the middle of the street.  I picked it up and saved it to throw into a trash can later.

     When I got to the grocery store, I also noticed various pieces of trash in the parking lot.  I suppose in the past I might have left them for someone else to pick up, perhaps even the infamous "they"; but these days, I'm more conscious than ever before to do whatever I can to help, so I picked up the trash and threw it out.  After I was done shopping and loading my groceries into my car, I returned my cart to one of the holding areas.  It was a very windy day so it was particularly important to return all carts lest they blow around and bang into cars.  I noticed several carts that hadn't been returned so I went ahead and took care of them.

     As I got back into my car I was thinking about the tendency to say that I shouldn't have to do these things.  People should throw away their own trash and they should return their carts to the proper place.  It's easy to get up on our soapbox about what others should do and what I shouldn't have to do for them.  Though I might be correct about it all, do these thoughts really get me anything?  It doesn't change anything and only leads to aggravation and negativity.  It's far better to simply smile, have a positive attitude, and do whatever I can to make our shared world a little better place.