Litter drives me nuts. I could ignore it like everyone else. But I just can’t. So, once in a while, I’ll stop my truck and get out with a few garbage bags and walk along 1/4 mile on one side, cross the road and walk back to fill them up. It’s mostly beer cans and bottles, but there are coffee cups and booze bottles and all kinds of garbage.
I used to be angry – at the jerks who are throwing stuff out the window, and that I have to do this, and that nobody else does. All those ideas are certainly valid. But being angry is only hurting me. Instead, I just own it. It only takes 30 minutes on a weekend, and I do it when I have some open time. I listen to a podcast or audiobook when I’m out there, and I am getting some light exercise. (Watch out for the prickers!)
I just see it as me taking responsibility for what needs to be done in my community. When I drive along the road for the next few months, I take pride in the section I cleaned, and I feel good.
I have made a big change in how I think about cleaning up trash on the side of the road, and it made it a lot easier for me.
It may not be easy at first, but we can always choose our attitude.
What’s your thing?
I pick up trash at my son’s local street hockey rink. I have not witnessed one other parent picking up trash there and it is “their rink”, it makes me feel good too and I teach my children to do the same.
Love this! Gonna put a bag in my outback today
I love this, both the actual implementation and the lesson behind it.
I love this ! Not just the helping your Community idea, but the positive stress free thought of the task.
As you think, you become.
I pick up trash while kayaking and join in to the official river cleanup nearby in Shelton.
What’s my thing? I do not particularly enjoy clutter around me. I can ignore it or make peace with it but all it does is drains my energy. How often do you pick up trash in your own living quarters? How often do you get rid of unused items, organize drawers, cabinets, and closets? How often do you say I have way to much stuff?
I spent close to 2 months in Europe with a small backpack and a small shoulder bag. Laundry was done once every two weeks and I had plenty. More than enough. I came back to USA and even though I left my room neat and organized I realized I need to purge, organize and donate.
Simply life happy life.
Larry…my comment is just to say I love reading your daily blogs and hope you never stop sending them!
Thank you so much and I especially related to this article because I have done/felt the same!
I love this – I do it too and have taught my kids to do the same. Making “deposits”….
Grab abandoned shopping carts in parking lots and put them in their corral
Not quite the same but related to giving up time and anger. I am making a concentrated effort when driving. If I’m in the left lane and a jerk comes up fast behind me, usually flashing lights and occasionally hitting the horn, I’ve have given up the need t hold my own and stay there. That person is obviously in a hurry and willing to risk the drivers around him by being a bully. I just move over and I let it go. Even not calling him a bad name in my head. Letting go.
My thing is stream clean up!
When I am out fishing I carry a garbage bag in my vest and pick up trash left behind.
It makes me a little sad that others don’t value the resource the way I do, however it doesn’t take much effort and makes a big difference. It also enhances the next anglers experience.
My thing has been to trap, neuter, and release stray cats in my neighborhood. Like you, “I used to be angry.” I used to complain that a few people would feed the strays but that only “multiplied” the problem. Trapping is the only way to stop the process. Instead of being angry, I just started with one cat, then two, then three, and so it went. I even made new friends with neighbors around the area. One in particular offered to help me with the several traps I was trying to place strategically. He would call me at work to let me know when a cat was caught so that I could pick it up at the end of the day. A few animal shelters took the cats in and sent them to be neutered. Then they would either adopt them out or give them back to me to release. An incredibly kind friend of mine offered to pay for four kittens to be neutered before they were fostered and found forever homes. She did this in memory of her mother who loved animals. I’ve since offered to let anyone use our traps to catch any strays they may have in their neighborhoods. I’ve found it to be such an amazing joy to be able to change the lives of one cat at a time. On a side note, Charlie, one of our male strays is now a very grateful lap cat every evening and Nala, the mother of the four kittens lives conveniently in a heated cat shelter on our deck. The two pal around each day, but neither one strays off the property. Also, since both are fed extremely well, they do not bother the birds at our many bird feeders. Now that’s another “thing” my husband and I are into, but that’s another story…
I as well pick trash on a daily basis as our office and shop are at the end of the Fort Road aka long wind tunnel from the north ? But like you I get a warm fuzzy after doing it to go along with that feeling of civic pride ?
I volunteer on Wed nights and we cookout for people at our housing authority. For those that can’t make it physically we walk door to door and bring them food. It’s a pretty sketchy part of town. It’s amazing the conversations that we can get into sometimes… And for others, how upset they get at the chance for free food/cookout???. Most of them will probably live there the rest of their life and blame everyone else on their own circumstances, but if I can give direction or just an ear to listen, and a warm dinner, just maybe I can change 1.
Isn’t it amzing when people do something wrong it teaches us to always do the right thing!
“Time does not exist on its own, it is what happens in it that molds and shapes our life!”
good job Larry!!!
Thank you!
Thank you Larry for the reminder to do a little here and there to make a difference. I like to pick up plastic trash at the beach in Northern CA. where I live. There is always plenty of it and when my bag or box or maybe even a plastic jug that I have found is full of trash I feel great. Another thing I like to do when mountain biking my favorite trails is stop for a few minutes and pull up Scotch Broom, an invasive plant that seems to grow everywhere I ride. I’ve seen from my, and others efforts, native plants on the rebound and it shows we can make changes if we work at making them. Cheers!
I just make it a game….”What’s the drink of the week?” Lots of Bud Light being drank in TN!
That’s awesome. Love it!
I too am somewhat of a bug when it comes to litter. I have been known to ask people that have thrown trash out in front of me to please pick it up and place it in its proper place. This generally leads to several expletives and a few finger gestures, but it’s not angry I feel but sorrow that they don’t understand or feel the needs to maintain their space. I also understand that my OCD drives me to keep things clean, but I’m the first one to play in the mud and get as dirty as I can, but I can’t wait to get home and clean it all up and start it over again. Even my children have gazed out the window as we’ve driven through poverished neighborhoods and suggest we stop and get trash bags and help them clean it up. It’s difficult to explain to your children that in certain places you can engage neighborhood to follow through and in other neighborhoods you’re only making room for new trash.