I FAILED, BUT I DON'T FEEL LIKE A FAILURE, BECAUSE I TRIED.

 

This morning, I headed back to the underpass at Waterloo & 224.  

I cleaned the north side under the bridge, all but this steep incline littered with Polar Pop cups.  I studied it when I was there on Thursday, and it is too steep to walk up without a harness and a rope and other people, but I thought maybe I could sit down and "crab walk" backwards to the top, and then push the trash down to the sidewalk.

I hurried up and cleaned the south side under the bridge.

More bushes!  My goodness, I am really hating bushes.  (We don't have trash cans in Akron.  We have bushes.)

It looks pretty good, doesn't it?

No, it doesn't.  This is only half of the trash I pulled out of the bushes on the east side of the bridge.

Trash is bad because it looks bad, but even when you can't see it, it's bad.  

Germs and bugs, snakes and rats love trash,  And the fact that most of it doesn't go away over time means there will only be more and more and more, if it isn't picked up.

So I finished that, and even though cars were constantly driving by, watching my every move, I went ahead and sat down and started my imitation of a crab up this incline.

It was slow, and I stopped a few times just to enjoy the view.  I used my running shoe soles and my gloves for traction.  And it worked.  

Until I got to the top.

I looked over at the trash that I had hoped to clean up, and there was a slimy oil slick mixed with mud, and lots of dried sticks and weeds.

I could go sideways and get to it, but I would not be safe.  I could see me sliding all the way to the bottom, onto the road!  Wouldn't that be a site?

I had to abandon my mission!  I failed, but I didn't feel too bad, because I gave it my best shot, and I determined it was not safe.

So I loaded up my car and headed home.

I couldn't believe my eyes!  

One of the "road closed" signs must have blown into the road from the storm, and since both lanes of this road are very heavily traveled, I had to do something.

I drove to the gas station, parked my car, and walked back to take care of this before there was an accident.  It was very hard to see until you were right there, and somebody trying to swerve to miss it could hit another car.

I waited until there were no cars coming, just in case I looked like a fool because the thing was too heavy for me to drag off the road.

But it was not too heavy for me.  

I pulled it into the grass, and then went back and got all the sharp little pieces that had been broken off.

And I smiled all the way home.

Maybe I didn't pick up all the trash on that steep incline, but I'm sure I prevented an accident today.

Picking up trash is so much more than picking up litter.  It's keeping people safe.  Broken glass, nails, needles, knives and dangerous things in the road need to be picked up too.