Do You Say Something?

"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves." ~David Orr

Yesterday was another fantastic summer day with Little Chick! While we were eating breakfast in the morning I had the last minute decision to pack the car and head back to Massachusetts to our favorite Six Flags. It was such a beautiful day and we bought season passes, so why not? On our way I could not help but notice the spectacular clouds in the sky (snapped a shot above). I have mentioned that I have always liked looking up. It is a perspective that I think sometimes does not always get noticed. I love to look at the tops of trees, the clouds floating by and the birds flying around. The view today, however, was particularly amazing! I couldn't help but say out loud, "Thank you God!" Little Chick asked me why I said that and I told her to look out the window at the gorgeous clouds. She thought it was pretty incredible too!

As my journey up North continued I saw a bunch of garbage all over the grass between highways. I then saw about ten men in reflective jackets walking around picking up the trash. I was disgusted. I remembered being at a gas station years ago pumping gas. There was a boy about nine years old standing next to his dad eating a candy bar while his father put gas in their car. All of a sudden the boy through the wrapper of his candy on the ground (between his car and the garbage can). I went over and told him to put it in the garbage can. The father heard me and reprimanded his son. While I was driving I wondered if I would still do a bold maneuver like that again. Another time I was driving and the car in front of me rolled down their window and threw out two big bags of McDonald's trash that ended up flying all over the place. I wanted to pull up next to them and say something, but there were a bunch of people in the car and I was not sure if it was such a good idea.

I looked in the rear view mirror at Little Chick while driving and thought to myself, "Would I be afraid to say something now that I have my daughter with me all the time?" There are things like this I have been bold about in the past. And there are new things that I am becoming bolder and speaking up for. However, I am not sure in our society today that I would say something. Because there are too many people that fly off the handle and I have to think about protecting my daughter, I might not say anything. Do you say something?