Each night after school my wife or I try to clean out my daughter’s backpack.

We sometimes find some interesting things among the wads of folded paper. Danni likes to pick up all sorts of junk, one day there was broken bike reflector and someone else’s pony tail holder in her backpack.

A couple nights ago I was hanging up Danni’s jacket when I discovered a fresh junk repository. I was tipped off by something as long as her forearm and kind of pointy sticking out of the inside pocket. Turns out it was a stick – looked like some sort of pine, probably about eight-inches long.

That discovery led me to inspect further. In her pocket I found some cardboard, that had obviously been litter, two pebbles and a used plastic spoon. Her other pocket was stuffed with a small pair of gloves so it had no room for treasure.

I can’t be mad at Danni for it, her reasons are noble. She has a vehement hate for litter, especially at her school, so she will pick up anything and plan to take it to the trash. I said plan, but sometimes even the best laid don’t work out. Somewhere on the playground she gets sidetracked and forgets to make a pitstop at the trash.

Most times this isn’t a big deal. A couple days ago, when I was walking Danni to school, she spotted a crushed wad of candy on the ground right outside the playground. Before I could steer her away, she picked it up. Luckily I was with her so I could immediately steer her to the trash. The line for being a good citizen is drawn somewhere between picking up the used plastic spoon and the wad of candy, but I’m not sure where.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 1:49 pm and is filed under Jason Lueder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.