There’s a little Japanese garden near our home.
It is small but quite pretty and peaceful. It has a pond where some fish swim peacefully. It has a rock path and a couple of bridges to walk across the pond. The fish like to hide under the bridges when people are around.
There’s also some pretty trees, but because it is currently winter, many are bare branches right now. Their leaves have fallen into the water and are slowly decomposing there.
The garden is right next to the shopping centre’s car park. The trees surrounding the garden almost let you forget about it. But you can hear the car engines moving about. There’s also chirping birds and flowing water, so it is not all bad.
Upon closer inspection, a disappointing problem becomes apparent. There is quite a bit of rubbish in the otherwise picturesque garden.
Discarded chocolate wrappers hide amongst the leaves, an empty bag of potato chips floats above the goldfish, slightly discoloured from the rays of the sun. A dead fish floats, belly up in the uppermost pond. There are empty milkshake glasses and discarded straws on the bench next to the pond. At least they’re not plastic, I guess.
My first instinct is to help out and tidy up the garden. But I would risk falling into the pond trying to scoop out the floating rubbish. I quickly realise I didn’t bring gloves, a bag or any other helpful equipment for this task. And there is no rubbish bin available nearby.
Also, as soon as I start paying attention to the litter, more and more of it becomes apparent. There’s also a jumper someone has abandoned between the plants. A presumably empty can of a popular energy drink. And something disgusting that could be either toilet paper or a used tissue.
The cleanup would be a more involved effort than I can muster right now.
I am here with my child. They enjoy this place. They like looking at the fish in the water, despite the occasional empty package floating over them. The kid enjoys this tiny sanctuary of nature and wonder, and is able to overlook the many flaws in it.
I would want to learn this approach from them. But I also want the garden to be clean and healthy. I want everyone to be aware and look after it properly.
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