TODAY WAS A ROUGH DAY

Today was a rough day for me.  I drove to Bedford Heights on Saturday, and I worked really hard trying to do something nice for people I care about, and instead, I insulted them.  

I was told that I made the City of Bedford Heights look bad with my blog.  I felt terrible.  I apologized, deleted my post, and I thought about not picking up trash anymore.  

A year ago, I started picking up trash to make my neighborhood safe for my dogs.  Now I do it to encourage other people to join in and keep our planet clean and safe.

Instead of sulking around all evening, I decided to pick up trash as planned.  I started at Firestone & Main, and I picked up 963 pieces of trash.  

I saw all these cigarette butts, and I picked up some that were on the sidewalk, but the people who are collecting them will need to rake them up, or bury them.  I'm not touching this.

At the corner of Main & Wilbeth, I saw this huge plastic bag.  I put my bucket in front of it so you can see just how big it was.  

It's very windy today.  Imagine if this bag blew across the road in front of traffic?  It could cause an accident for sure.  

I felt so good dragging it to my trash cart, preventing the possibility of someone getting hurt.  (Maybe me.)

Also at the corner of Wilbeth & Main, I found two needles.  I wear gloves and I picked them up with my trash grabber, so I'm not afraid of germs.  I am afraid that a dog or a child would pick them up and get hurt, or worse.

So I came home, and it's dark and cold, and I'm not going to feel bad anymore that the people in Bedford Heights misunderstood my good intentions.  

I'm not going to clean up trash at any cities outside of Akron anymore.  There's more than enough here to keep me busy.  

I know why I pick up trash.  I love my city and my neighbors, and I feel good about myself when I spend my free time trying to keep us safe.