So there I was, walking up and down the country hillside trying to improve my endurance and stamina after all the Dengue nonsense. Country roads are very cathartic for someone like me, who needs the peaceful sounds of birds instead of traffic, beautiful shades of green in every direction. Out here in the "sticks" of Martin County, it truly feels like God's country. Until one looks down and sees broken beer bottles and beer cans in the grassy ditches, and random remains of styrofoam. The Walmart shopping bags weighed down by nature's trash; things like old limbs, rocks from the road, and unfortunately the carcass of what appeared to be a large turtle. With the passing of years, these country roads have gone through their own facelift of sorts. The term is "chip and seal"- instead of old gravel roads, they are covered in such a way that it appears to be asphalt, but it isn't. I'm not into road maintenance so I can't tell you what it's made out of. Of course, like most plastic surgery, botox and other ways to keep up with beauty, the chip and seal wears out slowly over time. So, that time is now for Love Cemetery Road. The rains have etched vains of worn paths in the road, that is now mostly rock. The underground springs have helped to soften the Earth and the forces of humanity have not been able to correct the uneven, lowered sections of road. If two cars meet, one will likely bottom out on the side with the large crater shaped divot.
When I looked at the various items that fill the ditches of my road home, I got to thinking that I should come and pick up the trash, remove the old, long dead limbs. It's unsettling to see my country side so poorly cared for and I wandered who's job it was to keep up with situations like this.
Like a smack to the forehead that you might give the poor soul in your passenger seat when you see a "Stop Ahead" sign- I realized that it is my job. And yours, and his and hers. Any able bodied person should do their part to take care of the small slice of Earth that they inhabit. Saying to yourself "someone will do it" or "they should pay someone to ..." sounds a lot like "it's not my job". No, I didn't throw out the cans or the 44oz soda cup from the Marathon station.
So why is it my job? Well, with social media or unsocial media, depending how you look at it, there have been many discussions about the Welfare system here in the US. There are some that argue that the Welfare system makes those who need the services, dependent on the very system that is trying to give them a hand up during hard times. The nature of "giving" with no requirement for a return of goods or services sounds like a sure fire way to keep people eternally under your thumb. The paradox is that receiving unearned benefits and continuing to exploit the system that provides them, the benefactors of this "welfare" have actually given up their chance, their freedom, to enjoy life to the fullest. Which doesn't sound like a good deal to me and it certainly doesn't sound like a free handout. More like a free hand-down.
Are Welfare recipients the only ones involved in this unending merry-go-round? How am I any different? I have similar expectations of the government and businesses- maintain my roads AND their ditches, ensure that my drinking water is clean, my power is on, and for Pete's sake that I have a cell phone signal out here in the sticks. Of course, there are many things paid for with the taxpayers money. My question is, what am I exploiting at the expense of myself and other taxpayers?
I'm paying taxes that fund many programs. In reality, I'm paying to go through life without any real social responsibilities, because since I pay taxes, it's not my job. It's not my job to clean ditches, to sweep streets, or to do my part to keep my community, a community worth keeping. Is that the progress we've made? Instead of living in a community, we live in a cocoon; dependent on someone else to take care of "it". Needing more and more, demanding programs to be funded to take care of "it". Children go hungry. Not on other continents, just down the street. Contaminated water, not in the local lake but in the faucets in our kitchens and bathrooms. Outrageous tax bills to take care of "it", because none of us realized that our blind acceptance of having someone else do "it", when "it" should have been us all along.
Aren't we exploiting resources? Aren't we going to see the large thumb we are about to be put under?
Ever wonder how it became someone else's job? Imagine a few generations from now. Will social responsibility even exist?
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