Thought for the Week: 29th May 2010

This morning as I walked through our local park, there lying by a seat was this discarded plastic bottle. It shouted out Boost (energy). Clearly it worked it had transported the consumer out of sight, and clearly so rapidly that the container had fallen from their hand and the energy propelled them away preventing them picking it up. Well I can only assume this! The consumer valued the space, otherwise they would not have been there and hence they would not want to destroy it with litter and particularly plastic litter which takes decades or is centuries to decay.

This left me wondering about ownership, the park is clearly communal and therefore is owned by the community. Does this give the individual the right to use it as they wish? There are signs to keep dog walkers under control, no more than 4 dogs per person and clean up behind your dog. But individuals do not all observe the guidance or is it law, just as there are laws about litter in our public places.

It would appear we have the energy to consume and to use but not the energy to be responsible. We have the energy to claim our individual rights but not the energy to work for the common good. This makesme wonder ‘If the common good collapses then what happens to the common woman or man?’

s a Christian I understand that the wellbeing of community is crucial to the well being of all of society and a society littered with the fall out of individuals in competition with each other becomes as messy as our local park.