Picking Up After Others -- With a Smile

--by wayfarer, posted May 31, 2009

He was a neighbour and he was a few years older than me. That's about all I knew about the guy.

Now, there he was, on the strip of grass between our houses and the primary school. He had a bag and one of those "picker-upper" things, and he was collecting litter.

I was about to add "weird" to the list of things I knew about him, then I pulled myself up short. Since when did doing good equal weird? So, to make up for my lack of charity, I leaned over the fence and thanked him for doing a good job.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I'm sure the neighbors think I'm on a Community Service order!" From that little flash of humour, I was sure I was gonna like this guy. I commented how rare - and nice - it was to see someone doing good for no reason.

"Well," he said. "the kids really don't think about it when they drop litter, so ..." How refreshing, I thought, to hear an older person (like myself) who wasn't down on today's youth.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I probably left a thoughtless mess or three behind me when I was a kid as well. "Me too," he agreed. "And surely someone tidied up behind us."

We thought about this in silence for a moment, thn he reached down and picked up a juice carton. "I just look on it as ... well ... my turn, really."

And off he went, performing community service at its best.

1634 Reads

Posted by wayfarer
May 31, 2009
Comments (8)

Readers Comments

grammagussie wrote: I like your story wayfarer, you have such a skill at writting so i feel like i'm right there observing whats going on. Thanks!

Modestobob wrote: Sometimes the "act of service" and the commitment of the time equals the deed. Your neighbor is getting what he needs out of it to feel needed too. It's good that you were kind to him Wayfarer. You're quite a lad. :) ModestoBob~

lmil1954 wrote: Nicely said! Sometime's it is just "our turn"...thanks for sharing this today my friend! Love, Linda:)

JuneBug wrote: Somebody needs to perform Community Service in my daughter's car!!! Maybe I will get brave enough one day...I doubt it!!! :)

JuneBug wrote: P.S. Almost forgot!... Great story,wayfarer!!! :)

cabbage wrote: Very well put. Thank you for giving him positive feedback too! :-)

AURELIA wrote: We are learning each day from each other. Isn't it wonderful to be brought back to our childhood days and smile... instead of complaining about what our youth of today our doing!!! How quick we forget! Thanks Wayfarer. :0) Aurelia

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