Last week I had a pretty miserable week, with what started
as allergies and I think turned into something else. I have a whole new appreciation for being
able to breathe out of my nose. When
that doesn’t work, the in through the nose out through the mouth goes out the
door. Although the start of the week was
crappy, the weekend was great. The kids
and I headed down to the southern part of the province to spend the weekend
with Darcy.
Throughout the weekend,
we spent some time walking and wandering through the town. I was absolutely amazed at how little care
and attention was given to the community.
There was garbage everywhere and few garbage cans, neglected grass, weeds
all over and out of control and a general run down appearance of a lot of the
residences and buildings around town. It
was so hard to walk by and not want to pick the weeds or ask someone if we
could borrow a lawn mower. As we were
walking one evening, there was a young kid walking in front of us. As he walked and came upon a can or a piece
of garbage, rather than bend down and pick it up, he just kicked it around as
he continued to walk. There was no awareness or care of what he was doing. From the looks of things around him, he was
just following the example of many other people. It was so hard to just watch and not say
anything.
When we go for walks, we always take bags with us; one for recyclables,
another for garbage. If we forget a bag,
there never seems to be a problem finding one hanging in a tree along the
way. Our kids have been taught by
example and are right along with us.
This is our community and it is our responsibility to help take care of
it.
This weekend I realized what a beautiful town and community
we live in. Care is taken all over Stony
Plain, from the gorgeous hanging pots around town, the mowed and well
maintained lawns and parks to the recycling facilities that are at the
residents’ finger tips. We definitely
live in a community to be proud of. It
is important that we each do our part to keep it that way and to teach our kids
and lead by example to others around us.
It’s good to be home, just wish it was with my whole family :(
Alana Regier
