by Ethan Johnson
December 5, 2007

I am passing along the following anecdote as something of a teaching moment. Not just for the casual reader, who shall shortly be enlightened, but for myself, who apparently needed the lesson.

As mentioned here every so often, I walk the same route just about every day. This is partly because I have all of the landmarks mapped out as to where each mile ends, and where the halfway marker is. The other reason has slight parallels to the marathons hosted by Sri Chinmoy: Unlike other marathons that cover great distances, his consist of laps around a one-mile loop track. Who needs variety when the objective is to run as a form of meditation (self-transcendance)? You should be looking inwardly anyway, not at the varied scenery. His "dull" marathon routes are meant to encourage that introspection.

For my part, I refuse to wear a music player while I walk because I want to hear the thud of each step, and I want to hear the natural sounds - such as they are in suburbia. Another side benefit is that I hone my proximal hearing. I'm getting better at knowing how far an approaching vehicle is at any given time, what direction it is traveling, and if it is approaching me or moving perpendicular. Music players blot that out. Plus, like it or not, I greet all people on my route, which may be returned in kind, grunted unintelligibly, or ignored outright. I tend to avoid dog-walkers as I would rather not find out whose dogs are more socialized than others.

The down side of this walking route is seeing all of the litter that collects over time. Since my route is confined exclusively to our subdivision, I am unsure who is charged with trash cleanup beyond the garbage trucks rumbing through once a week for the residential bins. To my knowledge, there is no street sweeping machine, and I haven't seen any formal trash cleanup efforts, municipal or private. My solution for several months has been to assume that somebody is tasked with litter removal. Over time, however, it appears that everybody is essentially waiting around for that mythical somebody who is tasked with the job.

I decided that today would be different. I strapped on my music player, grabbed a shopping bag and my "picker-upper" tool from my toolbox. I decided that today I wouldn't concern myself with how much time was spent walking, and instead concentrate on clearing the litter along my walking path.

The path is a 2.2-mile loop.

I bopped along and snagged the annoying shredded bits of styrofoam cups, the errant cigarette butts, and other miscellaneous paper trash from the sidewalk areas and the curb. I opted not to police residential yards unless the trash was within reach of my pickup tool. I wasn't to the halfway mark of the route yet (not even the first mile) and my bag was already getting to be 1/3 full. I pressed on.

I made my way closer to the first mile marker, feeling a sense of civic and personal pride, and wishing that a) other people cared enough to follow suit, and b) cared enough to - radical idea alert - not litter. Some goofus kept cutting strips of rope (I assume it was the newspaper delivery person) that were used to bundle up something and tossed them along the curb. Not sure why they couldn't have been bagged up and tossed into a can later. I also recalled an old rant by Dave Barry about people who throw cigarettes from their car windows: What, you don't want to mess up that sporty ashtray interior?

I chugged along, feeling admittedly morally superior, but cautioning myself about getting too puffed up. I reminded myself that just because I bagged up some communal trash for a short while, once, doesn't make me better than anyone else. If anything, I shouldn't be all that remarkable.

Just before the one-mile mark, an elderly couple stopped me. I removed my headphones to say hello. The couple told me that they had been policing their walking route for five years. "This is the first time we've ever seen anyone help out," they said. They noted that the worst of it was along the path than ran behind the elementary school. Their main garbage bin was overflowing, uncovered, and wreaking havoc. The couple had resolved to write to the Principal and demand that the school clean up its mess.

I hummed along and cleaned up what of it I could, thinking "I have received my reward." But there was plain too much trash for my small bag, and I had to call it quits after at least making a cosmetic dent in the mess. My usual 30-plus-minute route lasted one hour. I came home, satisfied in the knowledge that despite all that needs doing in the community at large, at least for a moment a 2.2-mile strip is that much cleaner today, because I decided that today would be different.

There is a favorite maxim for some: "Be the change you want to see in the world." I myself prefer model the change you want to see. People may not notice the behaviors that you're modeling at first, or maybe even at all. But some people do notice, and they in turn seek to emulate those qualities, providing additional benefit.

The authors of the Tao Te Ching state,

17. Of the highest the people merely know that such a one exists;
The next they draw near to and praise.
The next they shrink from, intimidated; but revile.
Truly, “It is by not believing people that you turn them into liars”.
But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word
That when his task is accomplished, his work done,
Throughout the country every one says: “It happened of its own accord”.

I figure someone might notice the cleaner path and assume that the trash magically went away of its own accord. I waited for that magical moment too, and finally opted to create my own. <EM>