Trash day

I felt something odd come over me today. I was on my way to treat a friend to breakfast when an obstacle appeared in our path. It seems as though a trash can had been emptied all around the entrance area of the Campus Store. I felt compelled to pick up the trash when at some point I froze. I thought to myself, "this isn't my job. someone else gets paid to deal with this."

Out of self-interest I picked up a few pieces of plastic until there were only paper products left scattered among an area of roughly 12 ft².

Is it not my responsibility to stop and aid in whatever clean-up efforts are required of me? Am I not an able man who can bend over? Am I not capable of work?

This responsibility manifested within a place where my soul reaches outward into a space I do not own nor control. I can attempt to but will only fail when faced with the limitations of the boundaries that the Divine has set for me.

Yet, rather than pick up the remaining trash that was still sitting on the lightly frosted concrete, I felt a sense of freedom. I had the choice to walk past it within the rights of "it's not my job".

I feel that traces of guilt are building up. Small doses that grow...I must root this before it grows further. Perhaps the weeds of my conscience will sprout up from time to time but nothing that will require much effort to clean up.

Is ignorance truly Bliss? I would argue...