This was NEAT, but then I *have* to do dishes!

I’d just finished tying my pooch Lady up to a tree outside Family Dollar, and suddenly hear and see a green plastic soda bottle fall to the ground and splash liquid from the corner of my eye. Alongside the bottle is a white plastic bag full of rubbish. The only thing near it is a teenage African American boy sitting in the drivers’ seat of a totally souped-up car, with see-through chrome tire rims – the works. Music is thumping, and his buddy is in the car with him, both windows wide open, sharing their love of music, I presume…

I went up to the young man and asked him if he’d just dropped that bottle. “What?”, as he turned down the music to hear. I asked him again. “No, I didn’t do it”. I turned away and headed into the store to get the dog treats for which I’d come, thinking yeah right….

As I arrived at the cashier, I could swear I saw the young man leave the store and get into his car. I asked the cashier and another fellow if that guy had just come in to throw away the trash. They said yeah, and then commented highly about him; one even described him as “honorable”. I told them I was very impressed myself, since I had said something to the boy.

As I left, I poked my head into his car window again and said “Did you pick up that trash?” “What?” as he turned down the music to hear. I asked again. He responded, “no I didn’t pick it up” to which I asked “what happened to it then?” His response: “It blew away.” I beamed straight into his eyes, “It blew away…(with a ‘yeah right’, tone of voice)”. And then he looked at me and gave me the most beautiful smile, so lovely that it made me smile. What a special gift – that smile. What a gift that I could plant a positive seed in his mind too.