This morning when I walked down our high street with the Four-Footed Financial Controller, one shopkeeper was sweeping the pavement while another had a mop and bucket and was washing it down. These businesses are 100+ and 60 years old respectively, but still care not only about their customers but our community and place too.
At the weekend, I cleared the pavement and gutter in front of our house of weeds, as do several other families up the road. It makes the street look tidier, keeps it clean of a lot of the gunge that accumulates and maintains the road – ash saplings, buddleia, dandelion and valerian roots dig down and damage the road surface.
Why do it?
Shouldn’t the council do it? Well, they have rarely done it since we moved here 19 years ago. We could moan and complain, and ignore it when they take no notice, having wasted time and energy. Or we can do something about it ourselves.
It doesn’t take much but makes a big difference visually.
I believe in taking responsibility – if we ignore it and sit back to let others assume responsibility, only to do nothing or do something wrong or bad, we have no grounds to complain at the result.
At a time when the big picture can look bleak and make us feel powerless, taking small actions demonstrates that there is much that each of us can do and that taking responsibility does matter.
It’s not about one person doing something, but one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one . . .