Aretha Franklin Had It Right

            It seems like such a simple topic but it really stuck with me after today’s discussion in class: respect, not just for people, but for the earth around us. People go to such extremes to make sure that the things they own are taken care of and in tip-top condition. In my old neighborhood, my neighbors mowed every four days or so to make sure that their lawn was in peak condition. This, of course, made it brown and crunchy; but they still spent hours of their time and unknown amounts of money to keep their lawn pristine. Like Inky said in class, people in her neighborhood do everything they can to make sure kids aren’t on their lawn and messing up their grass. Their theory: my grass, my property, mine mine mine. But somehow there’s a disconnect between what we own and what’s considered public. There’s such a disregard for the wellbeing of a public park or a public walkway solely because a person’s name isn’t on a deed.

            Since starting this class, I’ve found myself stopping to pick up trash along my walk to and from my apartment. I’ll be walking with my friends and suddenly I’ll wander off to pick up a plastic bottle, an abandoned plastic bag, or whatever else I happen upon. I can hear the confusion trickle amongst my friends when they realize I’m not with them anymore. “Oh, just Caitlin pick up trash…again. Our little do-gooder.” Not that they intend to mock me, but there’s still an uneasiness with them when I stop to take care of trash. No, the walkway is public and no, I have no personal interest in it…but I do. I have personal interest because I find it extremely disrespectful to just toss trash around. Ew, germs, yeah. There’s that. It’s called washing your hands when you get back to a sink. I see people throwing cigarette butts out in the grass rather then walking an extra 20 steps to put it in a proper receptacle. No one with a brain would do something like that if they were smoking at their house. You wouldn’t find them abandoning cigarette butts on their lawn like that with such sick, careless disregard.

            All of this is based on respect, and how far that respect will drive you to do something. My roommate is a recycling fanatic. We all giggle at her, but I do honestly respect the intense effort my friend makes. She dug out my empty shaving can from the bathroom trash just last week. We have several bags in the front walkway labeled “General Recycling” (things that can be recycled elsewhere on campus: plastic bottles, cans, paper) or “Lititz Recycling” (cardboard, colored bottles, styrafoam). We’ve barely gone through three bags of legitimate trash since the start of the school year since so much of it we’re determined to recycle. She has an intense respect for the earth and the scarily limited resources we’re all burning through. I’m quickly becoming a recycling fanatic myself. Because I respect private and public land, I want to make sure it’s beautiful.

            So no, I don’t “own” the land. But I belong to the land. I respect it and only fools disregard this phenomenal spinning marble.