The Garbage Runs In It

Hal Boyle once wrote: “What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else.” What a splendid way to pass some time, sitting by a fresh stream and getting a sense of peace from the flowing waters. Why then do some folks want to flood the peaceful waters with tons of trash? The serenity of the stream is lost when a beer can or a chunk of Styrofoam comes floating by. Why is it so easy for some to dump their garbage into waters that flow? I wonder if there is some universal idea that the waters will wash the trash away. Perhaps it is not thoughtlessness that leads people to pour their garbage into running water, but rather an unspoken idea that once in the water it is gone.

Water is the great natural cleaner after all. Who would ever think of taking a shower in anything but water? Water is the perfect solvent. So why not let the river clean up our messes? The trouble is that what was once our mess now becomes the mess of somebody else living just a bit further downstream. Though water is a great symbol of our sins being washed away, it does not work for garbage. The garbage does not simply disappear; it will be an eye sore for many years to come. So what can we do make sure that the streams God has given us keep reminding us of him. We simply need to stop putting our trash in the water and then we should get into the water and clean it up.


This is what our Stream Team did this past Saturday, June 13. We put a canoe in Rush Creek and in less than a half mile we had so much junk in the canoe that we had to finish our trip downstream without picking up any thing else. We picked up lots of Styrofoam, plastic cups, bottles and buckets, even somebody’s living room carpet. We had to leave a tractor tire in the creek as we could not even lift up onto the canoe. It is nice to think that we got about a half mile of the creek cleaned up, but we hope to finish a two mile section by October. Just wait, we’ll get it done. There is sense of accomplishment in cleaning up a stream. Somehow it makes sitting on the bank and watching it flow a little more peaceful.