Contemplative Collection

Because it is EARTH DAY I am writing in green.  Happy EARTH DAY!

For this week's act of kindness I was committed to doing something that cost no money.

I collected trash in a contemplative fashion.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, I not only felt it appropriate to contribute to the Earth Day movement  in this way, but I also wanted to see how focused I could be on this mission.  This is what I did and how I attended to the actions and thoughts of the experience.

I committed to walking one of the routes my dog and I always walk.  I wanted to create more cleanliness along our normal trek because so many of my previous walks included noticing the trash, being repulsed by the recklessness of how people treat our planet, yet not picking it up.  Today I donned old garden gloves, brought a pocket full of grocery bags and off we went.  On this walk I had my head down with my eyes scanning from one side of the road to the other.  I took in the scenes of greening grass, faded crocuses, bright yellow daffodils, expanding buds on lilac bushes.  I snatched up crushed beer and soda cans, about ten to fifteen vodka nip bottles, broken glass and plastic from flower pots, car parts, a fake poinsettia blossom, a disgusting tobacco "juice" spittle bottle which once contained Gatorade (Disgusting!), heavy bolts in various places, styrofoam and papers.  I filled one bag for recycling and one bag for trash.  In my contemplative, trash collecting state, I noticed the sounds of birds everywhere along with cars.  I came upon the familiar two Scottish Terriers and their gentleman walker and gave them an explanation about why I was walking and continuously bending over in the vacant lot.  When we met up again on the other side of the block, and as I came out of a thicket with Bud cans, he said, "Well, you're doing a good deed, anyway."  I smiled and nodded.  I took in the Spring air which contained a bit of moisture and the smell of wet soil.  I noticed the small, stone, Celtic Cross in a roadside garden which was clean of trash and showing subtle signs of Spring growth.  I noted that it is Good Friday which lead me to think of Easter and Passover and reminded me of an article I read earlier in the week about how eggs have been a symbol of new life through the ages.  Passover and Easter's use of eggs are no exception.  Yes, my contemplating took me to thoughts of cracking the festively dyed eggs of Easter, and thoughts of how chicks hatch through cracking from within, and to thoughts of how skilled chefs can crack several eggs at once when creating culinary masterpieces or even simple and wholesome scrambled eggs.  Through all those thoughts, I picked up more trash and neared the end of my walk.  After sorting out the trash and placing the recycle items in their appropriate bins, I decided a nice way to conclude my Earth Day contemplation would be to plant the two hyacinth plants which were waiting to go in the ground.  The soil was quite moist and turned over nicely.  The pink and light purple plants nestled in their respective holes.   I felt quite content as this morning kindness exercise came to an end.  

May all you readers find contentment in this coming weekend.