I went for a nice bike ride today, a mellow 20 miles through NYC.
As I rode I thought of litter.
Litter and exhaust.
Litter, exhaust and poop.
These are some of the things that really get me. Not get me down so much but get me grinding my teeth. Simple things these things that we the people leave around for each other. (Although in the case of exhaust, not so simple I guess...) The traffic was light on account of the holiday, so Nostrand Avenue was less clogged by far than yer average workday. The litter was there though, and when I stopped in Coney Island at my mother-in-law's, so was the poop. I added to the exhaust with my own exhalation, just doing my part. Why do we drop the detritus of our lives, meals, projects etc. on the street? Why don't we pick up the poop? Why are autos allowed to emit? My bigger question: why not just decide to live in a world where these nasty things are NOT OK? We all contribute to the nasty somehow I think and that doesn't have to be the way it is, though from the window of my glass house, this perspective is easier to see than act upon.
One of the good things about riding or any physical activity is that it promotes a positive mood. Sometimes I find myself singing a bit after a few miles even in the throes of bitching to myself about the nasty goo around me as I ride. (Fracking broken glass on the street) I find myself consequently imagining a place where parents teach their kids about picking up litter, constituents insist that their elected representatives control corporate activities through legislation and dog owners pick up their animal friends' feces. I don't imagine the details of getting from where we are to the "perfect poopless world" but I do like to imagine the implications of taking responsibility personally for all of these things and many other more and less important things as well. (If I ran the world...)
I have to assume that people don't actively enjoy dropping stuff on the street or any other nasty behavior, after all, would anyone enjoy littering in their living room? It is so hard to refrain from screaming at people to pick up after themselves on the street. What really holds me back is not wanting to get my ass kicked, though when it comes to feces I let fly with as scathing a comment as I can muster. I did at one point recently retrieve a few pages of newsprint I witnessed a young girl throw down. When I returned it to her, she refused to take it briefly until her mother told her to. I looked back from a ways down the street and the newsprint was blowin' in the wind. What to do? As my son gets to be more of a kid and less of a toddler we are going to start picking stuff up on the sidewalk (as long as it's not too heavy) and depositing it properly. I already find myself picking things up occasionally so I guess institutionalizing it a bit can't hurt. Is it really as simple as picking things up? Using your car less? Getting a better less hurtful car? Scooping poop? Giving right of way? Using less stuff? Do these things matter? I hope so; otherwise I am leading my son astray.
01 January 2010.