I have been a tennis player since I was eight years old. As a tennis player, you need to rely on yourself, analyze situations, make good decisions, and take responsibility for what needs to be done. If I go for the risky forehand put away down the line, I am responsible for seizing that point. I am responsible for doing what needs to be done to achieve the win. If I am losing a match 6-0 2-1, I can’t ignore the score or whine about what is happening; I need to analyze the situation and opponent and make a change in my strategy. Tennis is all about this: taking responsibility, trying to do the right thing to achieve your goal.

One day I had to take responsibility in a different way. I took responsibility for things that were happening and made a good decision, a positive change.

I was on a run along a relatively quiet stretch of road on a crisp November day. The sun was bright but not oppressive. The grass crunched under my feet and the wind cooled me. I enjoy these solitary runs when I can train outdoors.

Around thirty feet up the road, a car door opened and spits out a mess of greasy wrappers and filthy drink containers. Napkins soiled with barbeque sauce and ketchup, lipstick-stained Styrofoam cups, crumpled plastic wrappers, and half-eaten fries were abandoned on the grass to the side of the road. A Chick-fil-a logo glared at me as I approached. As if nothing had happened, the car door slams shut and races away.

I looked at the grass, now smeared with ketchup. The non-biodegradable wrappers were deserted. I imagined running by three weeks from then and still seeing those wrappers. They would be rain-soaked, choking the grass underneath them. The Styrofoam cup would break into smaller pieces and become an unnatural part of the soil.

I needed to make a decision. But I was in the middle of my run. I was training, getting ready for my next tournament. I was not in the mood to pick up someone else’s trash. Wasn’t it beneath me to pick up the junk that wasn’t even mine?

As I approached the scene, I knew what I had to do. I stopped, picked up the abandoned paper bag and carefully collected remaining items strewn on the grass. I continued on my run, uncomfortably toting the garbage until I could find a trash receptacle to dispose of them.
This episode made me think of all the times I haven’t taken responsibility or made the right decision. Often I have seen empty bottles, floating papers, or forlorn bubble gum wrappers in the middle of the street or in the hallways of schools. I have never picked them up, ignored them because they were meaningless. Not my job. After all there is litter everywhere, right? What can one person do?

But, all of the litter that I have not collected would probably be enough to fill five dumpsters. Collectively, that ignored garbage would be able to choke and kill a fifty square foot garden. Even more, if that garbage had been properly collected, perhaps recycled, so many natural resources could have been saved.

I had made the right decision that day. Although I had not seen the face of the person that littered that day, I had seen the car. I can almost imagine the driver of that big, black, and ominous-looking Mercedes. I see her smoothing her highlighted hair and checking her over-bleached smile in the mirror for evidence of remaining barbecue sauce, late for her salon appointment or shopping trip. That is not who I want to be.

The beauty of nature enriches and enhances our lives. Protecting and preserving nature is an imperative. Each individual needs to analyze the situation, make decisions to bring about change, and take responsibility for what needs to be done. These humble, seemingly insignificant, efforts collectively can make a difference.