HOW WOULD YOU HAVE RESPONDED?

 

I picked up 2,461 pieces of trash tonight on Virginia and behind the strip mall.  What a mess!  Glass on every sidewalk square.  Yesterday, I cleaned the east side of the street and picked up 667 pieces.  The west side had over 900 pieces of trash, mostly glass.  It's pitiful that it gets like this and nobody wants to pick it up.  There is nonstop foot traffic.  

I turned the corner, and there were so many glass bottles in the grass.  A girl about half my age came walking by and she said, "Well, it's about time somebody cleaned this up!  There's so much glass!"

I was dumbfounded.  Usually people say thank you.  Or they make up some goofy excuse about why they didn't clean it up, like the weather is bad, or there's too much, or their big toe hurts.

When she was gone, I thought about saying, "You look pretty healthy.  Is there any reason why you can't help me pick it up?"  But I would never say something like that.  What would you have said?

This field is very big, but also very beautiful.  I didn't get all the bottles picked up, but it looks way better.

I cleaned up liquor bottles from this field last summer too.  I guess I need to make this area one of my regular stops.  It seems to be the place to throw a glass bottle if you have one.  Heaven forbid anyone would think about throwing a glass bottle in one of the dumpsters right across the street.  There are four dumpsters just sitting there waiting for trash.

I think I'm tired.  I tried so hard to pick up 3,000 pieces tonight, but I couldn't do it.  When plastic bags are tangled in the briars, and bottles are half buried in the dirt, it takes time to pick them up.  My trash grabber works really well, but if things are really stuck, I have to bend over and pull them out with my hands.

I drove home and saw a beautiful sunset.  By the time I got the dogs out for their walk, it was almost gone, but "red sky at night means sailor's delight," so it should be a beautiful day to pick up trash at Wendy Park in Cleveland tomorrow.  

I'm excited to meet people from Keep America Beautiful and Keep Ohio Beautiful and spend time with Kristin, my customer service person, and her little boy.