Walking around my front yard (the Residential Quad) this past Saturday morning, I was disgusted to watch the sun rise on empty Camel packs, Coke bottles and cigarette butts soaking in puddles.
On a normal morning I would have just held my chin up and continued walking, but Saturday we were expecting company. About 75 children from The Good Shepherd School and Project CARE, local organizations for underprivileged children, were coming over to play.
Getting to play at the big kids’ home was a big deal for these first- through fourth-graders who look up to us as role models – we’re the cool college kids. But what kind of example would we be setting if little Joey saw food wrappers and beer cans on our campus?
I was embarrassed. Fortunately, other co-hosts were awake bright and early, volunteering for Wolves on the Prowl, Loyola’s national community service day. After most volunteers headed out to serve the community off campus, one group stayed behind to prepare for our guests.
With half an hour to tidy up, a couple dozen volunteers split up with trash bags to scour campus for litter. With the entire lawn swept clean, we could respectably welcome our company. Through cooperation, we had won the battle – the kids enjoyed a clean campus. But we didn’t win the war.
Not long after our young friends had to return home, a stray cup fresh out of the Orleans Room rolled right across my path. In this moment of frustration, I could have watched the cup blow away in the wind, admitting defeat to the trashy enemy. But, instead, I was feeling the positive energy of the day, so I walked the foe’s filth to the nearest garbage can.
According to online sources, if no one had picked up that Styrofoam cup, it would have remained in the Peace Quad for 500 years before it decomposed. If every Loyola student left a cup from the OR in the Peace Quad every day for the next 500 years, and no one picked them up, our great-great-great-etc. grandchildren would have to swim through about a billion decomposing cups. OK, now I’m getting sensational.
Back to reality, this past week has provided good news and bad news. The bad news is a small group’s effort hasn’t solved the problem; the trash is back in force. The good news is we can solve the problem with continual cooperation. We must not only clean up the inevitable trash, but we must also clean up our act.
Remember Danny Tanner (Bob Sagat) from “Full House”? The Tanner home was always immaculate. By following Mr. T’s example, we can have as happy a family as Uncle Jesse, DJ and Comet. Please join me in actively solving the problem through a simple three-fold strategy:
Pick up after yourself. If everyone picked up after themselves, there wouldn’t be a problem. Instead of leaving your Pixie Stix wrappers by a library computer or your empty Rock Star can on top of the ATM, use some of that extra energy to take those few steps to the nearest garbage can.
Pick up after others. Instead of choosing the bench in the Peace Quad with the least trash next to it, clean up the trash near the bench you would like to sit on. You can make that bench seem like a throne worthy of royalty, and you deserve nothing less.
Tell the litterbugs to clean up their act.
We continue to have daily visits from prospective students who are considering moving in with us. They’re noticing that we use our sidewalks as trashcans. By keeping our campus clean, we’ll better show off our beautiful home.
It’s much easier to ignore the problem, but we must act now before the enemy becomes any stronger. With everyone working together, small efforts will produce big results. It’s our duty to the Loyola family. Let’s kick some trash.
Name Here is a something student from Somewhere, USA.
