The Grate Commission

I struggled mightily to come up with a title for this week's blogpost.

After a feverish second or two, The Grate Commission came to me. Puns are the primary school of humor. Can be witty depending on the depth of the reference. Like when I was in college, where the Study (actual last name) Twins roomed together in Burrowes Hall and I called them "Wombmates." Or when I asked a dude named Hair what the roots of his name was/were.  Or, when I titled our Resident Assistant Larry, Lawrence of R.A. Bia.

I think I was funnier in college.

Enough of Memory Lane. On my thrice weekly run to the river and back, for the last several months, I saw a sewer grate in the 'hood collecting more and more trash like a colander. McTrash from the local Big Arches down the road and assorted garbage.

Someone asked on Twitter recently what this generation would leave behind to future generations. All I could think of was plastic.

It grated on me that the grate was becoming the epicenter of refuse in the neighborhood, and a couple of ideas went through my head.

I thought about those who discard trash wherever they want. Almost like taking a crap in the town square. Selfish pigs. I wondered why they didn't just move to the ghetto where garbage is a way of life. Then, they could do whatever they wanted with no societal expectation of acting responsibly.

I know that reading, like tea leaves, too much into the throwing of trash is probably not accurate, yet there is a profound principle at work when individuals discard their garbage in a manner not conducive to solid hygiene, waterway health, and maintaining a clean and orderly space. Discard trash without conscience and the stage is set for the exertion of individual autonomy minus community standards. At some point, the trash wins. Some social commentator noted that if people would just sweep their stoop, it would send a message to the anti-social that their activities were being accounted for rather than ignored.

In Lancaster City, a young man tossed an empty jug of something into a stair well. I asked him and his homies if they liked living in a trash dump and he answered "Yes." I said something to the effect, "You deserve to."  True, but not exactly Gandhi of me.

At Glen Mills Schools, a Reform School where I worked in my mid-20's--we made a huge deal out of dust. Initially, I had a hard time acting upset by dust until I figured out that was where we drew the line. And if it wasn't the dust, it would be property damage. Or even more, kids getting beat on by each other. So I learned to get pissed about dust on the furniture.

Which takes me to my next observation. It was pretty clear to me that the trash in the sewer grate was not going anywhere. What makes plastic so useful--its waterproofness--also makes it impervious to decay. Organic matter rots away, plastic remains and piles up. The best we can do is recycle it. Ever seen plastic burn? The dark smoke reveal its petroleum origins.

Last Friday, I decided to go collect the trash in the grate after my run. It was kind of nasty but I did the deed in the shroud of night. It felt good to do an act of social restoration quietly. Of course, now I am blogging about it which negates any credit I would have gotten for my good deed according to Jesus. Blogging, the modern day trumpet in the Temple. Oh well. So be it.

Which brings me to my third and concluding thought--and it is derived from the writings of Soren Kierkegaard. According to Kierkegaard, there are three ways of relating to our fellow creatures and creation.

- Aesthetically - It is an appreciation of beauty and pleasure. Can be very self-serving but we experience the goodness of what is around us. This stage fails when we encounter the commensurate fall-out of recognizing that it is fleeting, passing, and even sometimes downright disappointing.

i.e. I love my McDonald's Big Mac. I throw away the bag onto the street because it pleases me to so in any way I wish. It is all about me. McMe. Uuurp, I feel like crap from eating that junk and slugging down all of that soda.

- Ethical -  The moral dimension of life becomes the focus. Some sense of reciprocity develops.

i.e. I love Big Macs. I bet other people do too. It is not right for me to chuck my trash anywhere I please. Maybe I should be moderate and how much I eat and skip the super-sized Coke.

- Religious -  We consider not only what we want but what is best regardless of the impact on us in terms of costs and obligation, even if we are not responsible for the antecedent conditions and then the consequences.

Is fast food sustainable? Do the chains pay their workers enough? Are the animals treated humanely? Damn, I still love Big Macs but maybe I should abstain. And, look, see the McTrash? Not mine, but I will pick it up.

One stage leads to another. From A to E to R. Many highly intelligent people are soundly grounded in A despite having an MBA. When we hear of Corporate Titans making a factor of a hundred times as much as their average worker, be assured that A is reigning. King Solomon sat on the throne of A like no one before or after. He called it all vanity. How many of our best and brightest clutch onto the world at the expense of their souls?

Even when a modern says she or he is spiritual, I have learned to flag that as sanctified selfishness. It is usually about me.

So, where do we come in with all of this? First, admit that we are all in the A Frame of Self. Even our ethics can be laden with a selfishness of scratching each others back. Or feeding each other Big Macs. Only when we don't eat Big Macs but still pick up the trash, without rancor, revenge, or regret--do we discover the Grateness and Greatness of the Great Commission.

We treat people as treasures even if they act like trash. For Jesus went to the grate for us.

Matthew 28:18-20- King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.