So a couple of days ago the train schedule screwed up a bit and I found myself with an extended break and time to just go for a nice, long walk through Suburgatory...aka the side streets north of the Danforth in East York. It's amazing how you can go just one or two blocks north and feel like you're in a whole different world. I like it! I saw a tree in blossom and just stopped and stared at it for a minute with a big goofy grin on my face. A dude walked by and looked at me funny...
Anyway as I was walking I had only one complaint, and it sparked an idea. Not my idea, obviously, but a GOOD idea nonetheless.
First my complaint was just that there is LITTER everywhere!!! Garbage! Everyone who knows me knows I hate litter. To the point that if I'm walking along with you and YOU drop something, I'll pick it up and carry it to the next trash can. If I can't pick up your exact litter, I'll pick up at least one piece of RANDOM litter to "make it even". Most people who hang out with me stopped littering a LONG time ago...
Anyway so a while back I heard of a dude who was homeless or unemployed or whatever...down on his luck. I see folks like that every day, unfortunately. However the guy I'm talking about was different...since he couldn't get a job he got some work gloves, some garbage bags and one of those pointy sticks and just started picking up trash. He wore a sign that said something like "Unemployed but still trying to make a difference - Donations Accepted"and just wandered around cleaning up the streets!
Oddly enough, I almost never give change to homeless people. I am generous and give to charity, but I just hate encouraging people to sit there with their hands out doing nothing. However, if I ever saw this guy, I'd give him at LEAST five bucks! He's making a positive difference and taking initiative! Kudos! Why don't more people do this??
Anyway so from now on, when I'm out walking, I'm gonna pick up a couple pieces of litter even if I DIDN'T drop anything. I think you should too. We may not be able to fix the whole world, but we can keep the part right NEXT to us clean, can't we?? And if you've nothing better to do, why not steal that unemployed guy's idea? It's fresh air, exercise, you'd be making a huge difference and making the world a nicer place, and if you can meet only two guys like me in a hour, you'll be making as much as you would at Walmart or something on minimum wage! Win. Win. WIN!
Right?
Thats awesome that someone would do that. He's unemployed but shows that he's not lazy.
ReplyDeleteI like what they do in the states they have the people in prison clean up. I've seen it on the highways and some fields on my last trip to lancaster-they should do more of that here.
The other problem city has is in areas like the photo you have or some parks (IE bluffs) there's no litter box some people just don't want to keep their trash on hand till they find one..
Shows that the there are people who do care about the our Nature.
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