A conscious decision
As I walked my dog along the main road not too far from my home, my eyes were drawn to a $20 note lying on the grass.
The note was in full view and in perfect condition. It struck me as odd; the note appeared to have been carefully placed on top of the blades of grass. I looked around to see if anyone was near by, who could have possibly dropped the note. There was no one in sight for a long way.
Think about it: the note was on a main road with lots of cars going by. Furthermore, it was quite a cold and windy day, but still the note did not move at all.
I felt I was being tested. Perhaps it was one of those pranks you see on TV where the reactions of passers-by are being filmed.
It was decision time: pick it up or leave it.
I left it. Why? Because it was not my property and my conscience would not allow me to take something that did not belong to me. Whilst I was comfortable with my decision, at the same time I could not get over the strangeness of it all.
Still on the same main road, and yet another decision awaited me. My dog Nacho does an incredibly large poo. Unlike the other members of my family, I always pick it up. That's just what I do. So, despite there being nobody around, I proceeded to pick up the package. Not a pleasant thing as Nacho is quite a large dog and therefore so are his poos. Again, my conscience would not allow me to just leave it.
I continue to walk along with the smelly plastic bag, praying that I encounter a rubbish bin soon. I see an entrance to a drain. I had never noticed an opening so large before. It crossed my mind that I could easily drop the bag into the drain and nobody would be none the wiser. Again, my conscience tapped me on the shoulder for the third time and once again I listened. I thought of the damage I would be doing to the environment, not only with the poo but with the plastic bag.
My thoughts drifted back to when I was in Cambodia only a few weeks ago. We were feeding a community living in the slums and once we had given away all our bread I found myself holding the empty plastic bags. Here I was, rubbish in hand, and piles of rubbish all around me. I really wanted to get rid of the rubbish but I could not bring myself to add it to the existing garbage piles. It was a really strange feeling. I gave the rubbish to a young lady, asking her to discard it for me. She did exactly what I thought she would do. She threw it on the nearest pile of garbage. Well, better her than me. At least my conscience was clear.
Today, I walked a different route and once again my eyes were drawn to a plastic card on the ground, just near the nature strip. It looked like a credit card but on closer inspection I realised it was a student ID card. As I write this blog, the card is sitting next to me. My plan is to contact the school tomorrow and have it returned to its owner but I can't help wondering how it got to where I found it.
What a strange couple of walks I have had. Items in my path forcing me to make decisions and it is obvious to me that our character, values and conscience play a big part in the decisions we make.
But am I looking at this in the right way? Well, I thought I was until I described what happened to me to a friend. She had a whole different perspective, one I will share with you in a future blog.