Service Day!

It's Service Day once again! Otherwise known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day which President Obama designated as the day we should all come together to volunteer for our communities. I head down to the wetlands trail at the bottom of the hill to pick up garbage left by lazy, thoughtless people misusing and abusing nature. It's quiet. The air is fresh smelling and clean. I do my part without subjecting myself to smelly people.

 

 

It was a cold, frosty day.

 

The morning sun was defrosting much of the ground, but patches of ice remained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As beautiful as it was, this made some of the garbage difficult to see.

 

Is it ice or white paper? Hmmm...

 

And much of the garbage was frozen solid to the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

Candy wrappers, napkins, plastic bags, paper bags and a piece of wood. I don't pick up toilet paper. Eeewww...filthy! I wish lazy, uncivilized people would use a toilet before visiting the park OR at the very least BURY IT!

I also found some new trails.

 

 

One from my new neighbor's house which might account for the excessive amount of dog shit all over the trail.

 

I don't pick up dog shit either. Gross.

 

 

Another trail led to a newly constructed fort. With candy wrappers surrounding it, I can guess some neighbor kids must have been feeling energetic.

In year's past, there used to be lots of garbage, old tires, soccer balls, boxes, and I'd drag home several bags of garbage, but there isn't much anymore. Maybe I have made a difference over the years in my own small way?

I think I need a new service day project that involves a little more work.



Service Day

A few years ago President Obama declared Martin Luther King Day as Service Day. As someone who is chemically sensitive, I am limited in my service options so I considered in what ways would I be able to volunteer and still avoid exposure to chemicals. Volunteering with people and feeling that solidarity and camaraderie would be lovely, but OUT. People stink.

As I pondered my options that day, I went for a walk at the park located down by the river and a block away from my home. At the far end of the park is very short wetlands trail. If I look up at the cliff, I can see my house. The rusty cans, toilet paper, cigarette butts, candy bar wrappers and used condoms littering the area called to me. (Yes! I said used condoms! Litterbugs are sex fiends.) My service project was born. I adopted the wetlands trail.

The Wetlands Trail

I try to go down at least once a year and do a little clean up. Sporting two layers of rubber gloves and carrying  a long weapon-stick in one hand and a large garbage bag in the other, I trudge through the thicket. Litterbugs are shifty. They do their damnest to hide their garbage by throwing it in the bushes, blackberry stickers,  marsh grasses, and in the water. I wear my indestructible rubber rain boots so I can go nearly anywhere. During the winter is the best time for service work because the foliage has died back and you can see the garbage better. Unfortunately, if surrounded by a prison of thick blackberry vines, the trash can be impossible to retrieve even with my weapon-stick. All I can do is stare and feel frustrated.

Garbage in Prison

The first year I took a small plastic grocery bag and had to come back for more. I ended up filling four of them with lots of old cans, large pieces of plastic, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, used condoms and a deflated soccer ball. I rolled an old tire out of the swamp and up the hill. Before I left I stopped to visit with the litterbugs fishing at the dock and gave them a piece of my mind about using the trash can right next to them instead of throwing it in the bushes. I should have lectured them on using the bushes for a toilet, too. I draw the line at picking up used toilet paper.


This year's adventure was strangely different. The wetlands sign had been removed and the trail was overgrown suggesting the city is no longer maintaining it. They also removed the garbage can at the dock. No one used it anyway. I think the overgrowth discourages litterbugs and sex fiends. I filled only a half of a large garbage bag, and no used condoms. I did find a huge piece of old plastic to drag out. SCORE!

River view from the trail.

It amazes me people respect nature so little they don't care where they throw their garbage. It pollutes the river, kills the fish, injures wildlife, and I can't even imagine the damage those used condoms do to the environment!

I do have a confession - I always forget about Service Day until President's Day. I get confused and think MLK Day is in February maybe because February is Black History Month. Oh well, better late than never. Besides it's difficult to pick up garbage in the snow.

What do you do for service?