PSTM: Trash, Dostoevsky, and a Brighter Outlook

The Idea:

Assume it’s on you.

Let me explain.

You’re going through your day. You have things to do. You are busy, and you feel pressure, and then you notice a little piece of trash on the ground.

In that tiny insignificant moment, you choose what kind of world you will live in.

The world covered in little pieces of trash that are quite justifiably not your problem or fault.

Or a world that is clear, clean, orderly and pleasant.

Or take the store. You hear about this with shopping carts. The shopping cart is the prime example of a fundamental societal test. It costs nothing besides a minuscule amount of time to return a cart to someone reasonable. It is net negative for everyone to have shopping carts throughout the parking lot, and yet, some people still fail this test.

Don’t be that person. Return the cart. Get your quarter back from Aldi, they don’t need it.

The Quote:

The Advice:

Don’t take what I wrote about picking up trash and shopping carts as a negative thing. The real takeaway (at least I tell myself and remind myself) is that we do live in a relatively litter and shopping cart free world.

You can find horror and environmental disaster and chaos and some true evil in the world.

And yet…

Most of our stores’ parking lots are cleared of shopping carts. And most areas are relatively trash free, and the trash filled areas are often cleaned up. In a world of possible chaos and mind numbingly depressing pessimism, a lot of people choose the nice option more often than not.

Keep fighting for team optimism.