There are very few things that drive me crazier than people littering, especially when there are trash cans everywhere. Tonight on my way home from work I was walking up the stairs to exit the T-Station and ran into a Dunkin Donuts cup laying in the middle of the stairs. I actually passed the cup at first, walking up several stairs thinking about how much people who litter suck at life. Then I quickly realized that I sucked almost as much as they did if I didn’t pick it up. So I walked back down the stairs to grab it, tossing it away as I exited the station.
Some jerk dropped their small Dunkin Donuts cup in the middle of the stairway even when there were trash cans both at the bottom and at the top of the stairs, ugh.
It probably took an extra 10 seconds out of my day. The only difficult part was actually making the decision to stop and turn around. It’s so engrained in city life to just walk as fast as possible to get to your next destination. So stopping to turn around is not something I normally see or do.
This reminded me of something I saw Sarah’s brother-in-law do over the holidays that has stuck with me since. We were on our way home and we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some apple cider and Jack Daniel’s (Mmm, delicious). As we stepped out of the truck we saw that a few glass bottles had been smashed on the ground next to the car. He wasted no time in picking up the pieces and then muttered something about people who don’t have any respect for the city they live in. On the way into the store he dropped them in the conveniently located garbage bin. Again, it probably only took 10 extra seconds. It was refreshing to see someone who was self-aware and good-natured enough to go out of their way to stop, fix the situation, and move on. My default would have been to ignore it, still complaining about how some people suck without really doing anything about it myself. The old Mainer in me would have gone out of his way but the new city-slicker in me would have ignored it and moved on without really thinking twice.
This month’s life experiment of doing a random act of kindness per day has definitely helped me to be more aware of my surroundings and as a result it has made me more aware of daily opportunities to do something positive for the city I live in.
