21/03/2025
You're minding your own business... on your way to take lunch in the car at a local park. You happen to see a good Samaritan taking the initiative to pick up the mounds of trash that have been left behind by irresponsible citizens. You have nothing better to do, so you park, nearby, and watch for a little while... intrigued by what they're doing.
After some time, you see the person tie the bag and start towards the trash cans in the parking lot near your car. You're very curious at this point, so you roll your window down to ask the person about their activity.
When asked what they have been doing, the good Samaritan cheerfully responds: "I've been picking up people's trash. The park looks so much better, now, doesn't it?"
You reply: "Yes it does!! There's always so much trash, here, and no one seems to care."
The good Samaritan then opens the lid to the trash can and places the bag inside. Telling you to have a nice day, they turn to leave... a bounce in their step for having done a good deed. You should be sharing in the joy of a clean park... but all you can think of is the aluminum cans, the glass bottles... the PLASTIC! You had watched the things she was picking up. Most of it was RECYCLABLES!
"NOT SO FAST!", you bellow at the top of your lungs!
You fly into a rage! You start spewing facts about recycling and the health of the planet! You accuse the good Samaritan of poisoning the Earth and not caring about the environment! You criticize their every effort, right down to the choice of a plastic trash bag. You insist that leaving the trash where it was would be better than not recycling it!
You are so incensed by this person's actions that you completely lose sight of the beautiful park grounds. The very same park you take lunch in, everyday. The same eyesore of a park that is always littered with garbage is now neat and presentable... but you can't see that because you are furious that this person isn't recycling the trash that THEY collected. They are tossing it, carelessly, into a universal trash bin! How could this good Samaritan care about the planet if they would so casually throw their recyclables away without sorting?!
To the people that pound our organization with criticism when we post our TNR work:
This is how ridiculous your arguments look, to our followers. We didn't put those cats there and it's not really our responsability (ALL of our animals are sterilized before adoption and NOT contributing to the overpopulation). But we like to see a clean park, so we will keep collecting the trash, so to speak. We don't care if you would rather look at the crisis from your cozy window. We will gladly spend our nights in the trenches to prevent suffering and overpopulation.
Your disapproval won't deter us. Your discontent won't change our minds. Your rage and criticism won't change the fact that we are doing the right thing... even if you think we are doing it, wrong.
~ Quality of Life Rehab & Foster, Inc.
