Sunshine and Light

People are pigs

I volunteer about once a month with an organization that acts as a volunteer clearinghouse. Essentially other charities tell them how many people they need, and when, and this organization posts it on a monthly calendar. Then you volunteer when you can. I love the concept, gives me a chance to do charity work without having to promise X amount of time per month. My free time is one area where I’ve become a bit commitment-phobic.

Overall, it’s been pretty cool. I’ve sent out mailers, packed science kits, did inventory for an organization that send medical supplies to third world countries, and set up for a dinner held once a month for Aids patients, among other things. All cool stuff that I never would have had the chance to help out with had I not gone through this particular organization. And most of the time, you walk away from these organizations amazed at the dedication and drive these people have for helping other people. These are people who have moved beyond complaining about the way things are, and have done something.

This weekend, though, the project sort of left me with the exact opposite feeling. This was working with one of the local community organizations. The posted request was prepping a vacant lot for becoming a parklet. Because the community was the local college area, when I arrived Sunday AM, there were 18 people there. And I was the oldest by 10-15 years.. Sigh. Anyway because there were so many, 6 people worked on the parklet (and a tiny parklet it is!) and the rest of us picked up trash in the neighborhood.

My thoughts progressed as follows: Fer cryin’ out loud people, when you have built an ENTIRE WALL out of your cigarette butts in the gutter, maybe you could, you know, sweep or something? Then I came across the pair of boxers. Underneath was the pair of women’s panties. OOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWww. Get a room! I ventured a little out of the territory on the other side of the fence to pick up a grassy area full of beer cans and debris. I did throw out the lid to the barbecue pit that sat pitless there, and retrieved a notebook from the branches of a tree. I left the random scraps of wood that were too big to haul, the sofa, and the tire. The Japanese passport I just turned over to the project leader (who had probably been out of college for like 20 minutes). I figure she probably had better ties with the police as part of the community than I did.

The good news is that because of the number of people out there, our 4 hour project took 2.5 hours – including the 20 minute walk over and 20 min back. But I was skeevy until I’d spent 10 minutes in a shower. I mean, really, people suck. Two of the guys on the project made me laugh because they were talking about our trash pick up reflecting the human vices – alcohol, cigarettes, sex… all we needed were some lottery tickets and it would be like Las Vegas. And maybe a crack pipe.

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 2:09 PM