This place looks familiar...
...because this is the place I cleaned up only four days ago. This is what I found today:
Over 100 plastic bottles
Broken ceramic cups
Aluminum cans
Steel cans
Steel pole
Styrofoam box
Plastic food wrappers
'An-ko' sweet bean paste containers
Plastic 35kg fertilizer bags
Plastic shopping bags
Etc,
All of this (except the styrofoam box on the right of the picture above) came from the cemetery that I highlighted in my Day 20 post. This is only a fraction of what one family dumped down the slope from their grave site down towards the next family's site.
I have noticed something about myself throughout this challenge: at the beginning I was totally gung ho about cleaning up the island.Towards the end of the second week, it all kind of hit me and I became pretty agitated by the sight of any garbage. Now, I have moved on to accept the situation. I do not like it, and I do not condone it, but such is the situation that we have on Ajishima. There are mountains of trash spread across the island by the islanders. I cannot change that fact. I can, however, try my best to clean up as much as possible, and to hopefully influence other islanders not to litter in the first place.
Today, while picking up the trash around the cemetery I became content and happy. I found peace in doing a simple task and in showing respect to the resting place of our island's ancestors. I may not be able to read or pronounce the Japanese characters of the families' names, but I beg their forgiveness for trespassing on their hallowed ground and then proceed to clean it up to the best of my ability.
If I had time every day for another month, I still would not be able to clean up half of the trash dumped in the cemetery. I would like to showcase some of the other dumping grounds on the island, but I am drawn to tidy up the cemetery. I am not sure what I will eventually do for my final week of the challenge. Please stay tuned for the details of what and where I end up cleaning up...
Over 100 plastic bottles
Broken ceramic cups
Aluminum cans
Steel cans
Steel pole
Styrofoam box
Plastic food wrappers
'An-ko' sweet bean paste containers
Plastic 35kg fertilizer bags
Plastic shopping bags
Etc,
All of this (except the styrofoam box on the right of the picture above) came from the cemetery that I highlighted in my Day 20 post. This is only a fraction of what one family dumped down the slope from their grave site down towards the next family's site.
I have noticed something about myself throughout this challenge: at the beginning I was totally gung ho about cleaning up the island.Towards the end of the second week, it all kind of hit me and I became pretty agitated by the sight of any garbage. Now, I have moved on to accept the situation. I do not like it, and I do not condone it, but such is the situation that we have on Ajishima. There are mountains of trash spread across the island by the islanders. I cannot change that fact. I can, however, try my best to clean up as much as possible, and to hopefully influence other islanders not to litter in the first place.
Today, while picking up the trash around the cemetery I became content and happy. I found peace in doing a simple task and in showing respect to the resting place of our island's ancestors. I may not be able to read or pronounce the Japanese characters of the families' names, but I beg their forgiveness for trespassing on their hallowed ground and then proceed to clean it up to the best of my ability.
If I had time every day for another month, I still would not be able to clean up half of the trash dumped in the cemetery. I would like to showcase some of the other dumping grounds on the island, but I am drawn to tidy up the cemetery. I am not sure what I will eventually do for my final week of the challenge. Please stay tuned for the details of what and where I end up cleaning up...
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