Yes! I’m shouting!
As we drove along U. S. Highway 341 N on May 21, toward Newnan, GA, to attend the high school graduation ceremonies for our granddaughter, the driver of a vehicle heading south tossed his fast food trash out of his window directly in front of us. Of course, we drove over it creating an even greater mess.
So, it was with great interest that evening when I listened to the valedictorian base her speech on the literal and figurative meaning of Robert Fulghum’s famous verse, “All I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten.” Prefacing her remarks with apologies to her high school teachers who had imparted much knowlege, she sought to make Fulghum’s 16 rules, starting with “Share everything...,” meaningful to 450 graduates, some heading off to college, some to work, some to the military.
But, it was rule # 5, CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS, which is written in all caps, stood out to me on that chilly evening. The young lady made valid point after valid point. While she named all 16 rules, she focused on those that offered special advice at this particular time in the lives of these young graduates.
Given our experience earlier in the day, I continued to focus on rule #5.
Drive along any highway in this beautiful country and you will immediately take notice of two scenes - the roadside signs designating the civic groups which monitor and clean up trash along certain stretches of roadway and the unending debris thrown from passing vehicles. Why is it so difficult for anyone to keep trash in a bag until he or she reaches the nearest trash bin available at service stations, entrances to many businesses, even at home? After all, fast food restaurants and convenience stores bag each order. Who ever decreed that others should clean up after those with careless disregard for themselves, their neighbors, their country? I would imagine that most litterers consider themselves patriotic; and yet, they defile the very land that they proclaim to love.
American travelers to many other shores take note immediately of the clean roadsides. People in other lands take too much pride in their countries to litter. Yet when they travel to the United States to view the vastness of our great natural beauty, the very first thing they encounter is litter everywhere. When they return home, shaking their heads, they must tell their friends about the unconscionable hordes of litter before they ever show photos of our beautiful landscapes.
My former students will tell you that this is a sermon I’ve preached for years, always reminding my very young charges that the school janitors were not there to clean up their individual messes, but rather to keep the facilities as free as possible of dirt tracked in and germs spread on surfaces by the masses. Students should toss their own trash in the multiple cans placed around the school rather than stuff it in their desks or drop it on the floor. I even threatened to lower grades if I found papers with their names trashed in their desks. And since they had to rewrite most papers I had returned for better grades, I rarely watched them toss the papers I had spent hours grading in my trash can.
One of my favorite all time scenes occurred at the intersection of Palm and Younce Streets years ago. As I rolled to a stop for the red stop sign, a young female driver coming from the opposite direction tossed her fast food trash into the street. As she came to a stop for the sign, the police officer traveling behind her turned on his lights. We both remained very still. The officer walked to the driver’s side and motioned her to step from the vehicle. He then asked her to pick up her trash and put it back in her car. She complied. He didn’t write a ticket, but hopefully he made his point strong enough to last her lifetime.
The Newnan High valedictorian ended her speech with much emphasis on Fulghum’s 16th and final rule: “Be aware of wonder.”
Think about that rule. Therein may lie the answer to the selfishness of those who trash the streets, both literally and figuratively. Certainly, kindergartners, just beginning their formal education, are full of wonder. Everything is new and exciting to them. Life offers them a smorgasbord of lessons to learn. Yet in this world of constant newness, of miraculous technology, of mind bending opportunities, too many Americans have grown bored with life itself. They have lost their ability to wonder and don’t know how to rediscover this hidden treasure.
In his little book which has become a popular gift for graduates, the Unitarian minister also writes, “I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge...Knowledge is meaningful only if it is reflected in action. The human race has found out the hard way that we are what we do, not just what we think.”
2015
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