My faith in humanity has been restored.

On our way out to the reservoir this afternoon, Lola and I passed the same couple we’d seen yesterday as they walked the opposite direction. The guy stopped me and said, “You know, that was a real nice thing you did out there, picking up that trash and leaving the bags.” I said, “Oh, the bags are still out there??” He replied that they were, and that the trash situation had gotten out of control recently, and he was glad someone cared enough to try to clean it up.

I got all misty!

I half expected to find my plastic box and its garbage bags and work gloves to be trashed themselves, or even stolen, but nope, there they were — although moved to a different rock nearby. Someone had obviously taken at least one bag of trash out of there (a trashed lawn chair was gone, along with pieces of lumber they’d used for the campfires), and there was another half-full bag that I added a few items to and took back with me. The entire area was MUCH cleaner than it had been; it was very nearly completely garbage-free.

I guess sometimes a little nudge is nudge enough.