I slipped my garbage men a couple of Hamiltons to clean up the rest of the tree debris left rotting in my front lawn. It was very cool of them. They backed the truck up and cleaned all the branches, leaves, and spider webs in-between. I was so appreciative because chopping up the branches and putting them in my recyclable paper lawn bags like I've been doing... was not a good time. It was back-breaking to say the least. These guys picked it up and swept up the driveway afterwards. Even though I hooked them up with some "lunch money," I got to thinking... what are they going to have for lunch? I imagined something greasy... maybe with a side of fries... and that bothered me. Was I solving my lawn problem while simultaneously funding the obesity epidemic that my older brother spends his days and nights fighting against?
Was I blindly complicit?
Granted, these three garbage guys could be triathlete vegans and my greasy assumptions are ill-placed... but on the off chance that that is not the case... I figured I could work towards simultaneous objectives.
So I made them all honey baked ham sandwiches on German Dark whole grain wheat bread with lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, thyme, and honey mustard.
I have no idea if they are going to eat them... if they will even like them or if they will still get the side order of fries... but I know this...
Just for today, I gave them a choice.
Choosing how we live our lives... how we build our homes... what we put in our bodies... is one part conviction, one part opportunity. When I am at the supermarket and there is a $1.37 difference in the store brand raspberry jelly vs. the organic raspberry... and I only have store brand dollars in my pocket... my healthy convictions are trumped by my financial in-opportunities.
Lesson: In a sustainable community, the decisions we make for ourselves are equally as important as the opportunities we provide for others.