Not My Trash

“The earth turns gaunt and gray, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colorless. Earth Polluted by Its Very Own People.” (Isaiah 24:4 MSG)

I noticed it a year ago: an empty, crushed, soda can under the wooden bleachers near the track where I coach a group of kids. I usually make the kids pick up their trash, and I go behind them and clean up whatever they miss. I was afraid of getting stuck between the slats, or else I would have picked up the can.  A few of the kids were small and agile enough to squeeze under the bleachers and retrieve it. Last year, I made a general request to no one in particular: “Can someone get that soda can from under the bleachers?”

“It’s not ours,” they would reply.

I didn’t want to make anyone feel like I was blaming them, so I didn’t press the matter. And the soda can remained under the bleachers for a whole year. When I noticed it again at the start of this season, I knew I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I waited until everyone had left practice and awkwardly squeezed through the slats and retrieved the soda can. I wondered why I had waited so long to do what I knew all along needed to be done!

Most of us wouldn’t knowingly contribute to pollution, but we accept a certain amount of it as part of normal life. We think it’s unfair that anyone would expect us to be inconvenienced by problems we didn’t directly create. If our ancestors cut down trees to develop cities, or pesticide usage in a neighboring state is polluting rivers, or glaciers are melting because of global climate change, we don’t see it as our fault. Assigning blame, devising justifications, and ignoring messes do not solve the problem. It may not be our responsibility to fix it; there may also be others who are better suited for certain tasks than we are. However, if we see a need, and if it’s within our power to do the right thing, it would be an act of graciousness to do so. The earth may not turn gaunt, gray, silent, lifeless, or colorless in our lifetime, but we may be able to give future generations a chance to enjoy God’s creation by our small acts of kindness.