We Should All Feel Safe Enough to Do This

Today I was in a drive-thru getting some breakfast on my way to pick up my van from the shop (water pump died). I was behind a woman in a black Lexus SUV, and she was behind someone in a more nondescript car, a Toyota or Honda sedan. Lexus was at the window to pay for her food, and the other person had pulled up to the food window.

All of a sudden Lexus starts leaning on her horn and yelling out her window "Don't do that!" As I wondered what it was someone wasn't supposed to do, she angrily honked the horn again, shouting out her window "Don't throw trash on the ground! You don't DO that!" The driver in front of her glanced back and just started to pull away, not picking up the trash she had thrown out. Lexus had a few more choice things to say about it, which I didn't exactly hear because I was paying for my food, and then Lexus drove thru the line, not stopping to pick up her food, in hot pursuit of Litterbug. At one point I thought Lexus was going to ram Litterbug, but then they pulled around the building and I stopped to get my food. When I came around the corner, Lexus had parked her car and gone in to get the breakfast she left at the drive-thru, and Litterbug was gone. I was relieved that Lexus was safe, and I applauded her efforts to stand up for what is right.

This may not sound like the incredibly courageous act that it is. Around here, taking a stand like that, even about something as seemingly trivial as littering, can get you assaulted or shot. I doubt that Lexus changed the behavior of Litterbug, but maybe one of the 20 or so of us who witnessed it will gain the courage to stand up for what's right in our lives. Or maybe you will, because you read this. Or maybe I will. Or maybe I'll just continue to avoid confrontation like I do now, and just pick up the trash myself.

Let's take a stand this weekend on our blogs. Write about something you witnessed or experienced that you may have lacked the courage to do anything about when it happened. If you are blessed enough that nothing ever happened, then write from your heart about something you think is right. Leave me a comment and I'll do a linky round up next week. Or, if you prefer to stay anonymous, email me and I will put up your post on my site, anonymously. Tell your bloggy friends. We'll call it something like Taking a Blog Stand, or something more clever I can't think of right now.

Comments

[Minnow]

The best way to get back at people for doing something wrong related to driving is to post their tags and a description of their vehicle on www.platewire.com. Check out the website...sometimes I read it just for fun. A great way to let out your frustrations without incurring bodily harm :)

[Chase]

I wrote my post on this lack of courage thing a couple of days ago. Bleh. Still sick about it.

BUT, I wanted to comment on the littering thing. We were at a fast food restaurant when I was a young teen. The person in front of us threw something out the window. My dad put the car in park, walked up to the car in front of us, picked up the trash, handed it back to the guy and said, "here, you dropped something."

The guy looked at my dad like he was crazy, said, "thanks?" and drove away. He didn't throw it back out. :)

I'll always remember that one!

[amygeekgrl (Crunchy Domestic Goddess)]

i'm always the person grumbling in my car and getting pissed off, but never having the guts to say anything. good for lexus for saying something. glad that she didn't get hurt because of it.

i watched from my office window as some teen empty all of his trash out of his car into the street in front of my house once. wtf?

good blog topic. i will see if i can come up with something and will let you know. :)

[Summer]

Your post reminded me of a story from my ancient past. In high school, I was a founding member of the Environmental Club (motto: "this'll look great on our college applications!") and our big project was that we set up trash cans for recycling aluminum cans around the school. Not only did we install them, it was our job to empty them and take the cans to a recycling facility, which was a dirty, sticky job that I was thankfully spared because I was too young to drive. It was a lot of work.

One day, in a dim hallway in the basement of the building, I saw a girl toss a bunch of trash into the recycling bin. "Hey," I called sharply, "that's for aluminum cans, not trash." She swiveled and faced me down, and I realized that I had just made a HUGE mistake. I was small, skinny, geeky and alone. The girl I'd confronted was large and surrounded by equally large friends, and they weren't people I recognized from my AP classes, if you know what I mean. "Did you say something to me, white girl?" she yelled. I'm sure I went even whiter -- I was certain that any second now, I was going to get my ass kicked. The only choice I had was to try to talk my way out of it, so I told her about the club, about how we were in charge of these cans, about how other students and I were the ones who had to empty the cans and pick out any non-recyclable trash. And... it worked. Not only did I escape unbeaten, but she apologized and removed her trash from the can. And I did ultimately get a scholarship to the college of my choice, so happy ending.

[Angi]

Great story :) And YAY for Lexus lady!!

I'll be gone this weekend, but will try to think of a story to post when I am home...but I tend to be the avoid confrontation type too *sigh*

[Mom101]

That's just awesome. I always say something to litterers on the subway. It makes me nuts. I mean, toss something on the tracks and it's there FOREVER. Unless it draws the rats to eat it. Either way, selfish and disgusting. Good for Lexus! (Hope it was the hybrid though)

[Dana]

Wow! You're right, many people wouldn't have the guts to do what Lexus did!

Thankfully, I haven't witnessed anyone littering at the drive thru. Everyone uses the drive by garbage cans I think!