Posted by angel on Jan 11, 2010 in words for the wise | 112 views   

I was at the Metro recycling center this afternoon. Once or twice a week I load up my car with all of the recycling from the Ladybug and I drive about three minutes to where the journey of reincarnation begins for these materials to come back as something else.  I was standing by the bin for milk jugs and the bin for miscellaneous plastics. I had emptied out the compostable bag of milk jugs and was unscrewing the lids from a couple of Columbia Gorge Organics juice bottles. The plastic bottles went in with the milk jugs and the lids were going in with the miscellaneous plastics. A man that was there to drop off his recycling asked me why I was taking the time to unscrew the lids. He pointed out that many other people had not bothered and that at least I was recycling it, so why take the extra time? I told him that I was doing it because it was the right thing to do, because I was already over there putting in the effort and the time, it would be silly for me to not do the best I could. He smiled at me and said that he didn’t often hear of people doing something because it was “the right the to do” and then he thanked me.  After wishing me a happy afternoon, he got in his car and drove away.

I hope that he was inspired and will pass on that inspiration to what he does in his own life and hopefully it will motivate someone else to be more conscientious about what they are doing. If we all live our lives as though we have the opportunity to create joy and inspire others to better the world, that will be bliss.