Is it really that hard?
You must be the change you want to see in the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi
My wife has the above quote as her e-mail signature. This morning, when I was at the park doing my usual early morning picture taking, I noticed the all around the basketball court there were empty bottles, candy wrappers, etc. All within very easy walking distance to the trash can.
My first response, was: “Damn, people!!! How hard can it be to put the trash into the can?!!!” The next thing that came into my head was the above quote. So, remembering that I’m no stranger to picking up trash, I simply picked it up, put it in the trash, and continued my shooting. It took all of one minute to clean up the area, perhaps two minutes. However, when I left, I certainly felt good about doing my small part to cause a change in the world that I’d like to see.
Now! That’s more like it
After picking up the trash, I continued my shooting, took a few moments to relax on the bench in my nice clean environment, and then went home. All in all, a great morning!
I write this, not for recognition, but in the hopes that you will become the change that you want to see in the world. Want peace? Be about peace. Want love? Be about love. Want clean parks, rivers, and streams? Take a trash bag with you when you go shooting. You never know, someone might accidentally see you and become inspired to do the same thing. It’s the beginning of change.
Most of the nature photographers that I have met already tend to do this. Kate and I did it in New Mexico. Unfortunately, there were several opportunities to pick up trash.
Related posts:
One Response to “Being the change …”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Awesome, I’m very much the same way. Being from the beach, it would always upset me to see people trash it. “You’ve got to change people!.” Not a famous quote, but one that I’ll always remember from an instructor of mine.