Tuesday, 25 March 2008 - An attitude adjustment

Dear God:

Today, I am thankful for an attitude adjustment.

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
~Marshall McLuhan, 1964

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
~Reinhold Niebuhr, excerpt from the original Serenity Prayer

It's business as usual on my tiny section of Spaceship Earth ... lots of passengers, too few crew members.

Previously, the glass shards and dozen empty beer bottles lying near the sidewalk would have disgusted me for two reasons: first, that people had the nerve to leave them there (idiots!) and second, that no one else had bothered to pick them up (lazy, apathetic neighbors!).

But, this year, I've changed my attitude about litter. Actually, I'm trying to apply the Serenity Prayer to more of life's unsavory situations. So, I gladly accept the responsibility of picking up trash no matter the source or location. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it.

I tell T that we have to clean up the area before proceeding to the park. I pull from my pocket the extra grocery bag that I carry just for these occasions and carefully gather the bottles and broken glass. I set the bulging sack near the park entrance - it's too heavy to carry while we complete our laps. I'll pick it up when we leave.

When we arrive home, I'll simply dump the bottles in the glass recycling bin that sits in the garage. Now, wasn't that easy?

For this blessing, I am grateful.

Amen.