On Saturday I witnessed something so rare I’m still shaking my head. If I had not come away with actual photographic evidence — as well as a few names of those involved — I doubt I would be able to prove the incident ever occurred. But there they were in downtown Lakeport: teenagers.
You say that’s not so unusual? Well, this was just before 7 a.m. on Saturday.
Maybe today’s high school kids are more motivated. I seem to remember that the Saturday agenda way back when involved slacking in bed, at least until “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” came on … unless, of course, some tyrannical force pulled you from your sheets to mow the lawn, in which case you started your day with “Hong Kong Phooey” until your parents located the spark plug that, by sheer accident, dropped out of the engine.
But more than a dozen kids from Clear Lake High School, as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, spent their Saturday morning sweeping sidewalks, brushing off cobwebs, picking up litter and giving the downtown a little touch up.
They had volunteered both time and effort to help with the Downtown Lakeport Clean Up Day, an event sponsored by the Lakeport Main Street Association. They moved in teams up and down the sidewalks. The only payoff, other than civic pride and a little exercise, were boxes of donuts.
Which kinda cancels out the exercise part, now that I think of it. I probably should have taken the donuts home — you know, just to spare the kids a few hundred empty calories.
Next time I’ll consider it my civic duty.
Several adults, including business owners, also took part in the clean up effort. In Clearlake, 51 people joined Citizens Caring for Clearlake. They pick up dump sites and roadsides around the community. In addition to the volunteers, people can earn a little extra money for their time in this case.
Other organizations and citizens groups perform similar tasks around the lake, as well. But I think it is valuable when youths involve themselves in otherwise mundane work, just for the benefit of the community. You see, far too many people — kids and adults — adopt a kind of “what’s in it for me?” attitude, preferring to idle around watching lame (especially in retrospect) television shows.
OK, that was then. My excuse now generally involves not at all lame televised soccer games … and perhaps a beverage or three.
It’s easy to ignore the calls to help. It’s easy to coast from home to work or shopping without a thought about the community. It’s easy to point out the problems, the empty store fronts, the garbage and shrug. It’s easy to accept the fact that a core of people will volunteer, so the rest of us don’t need to step up.
The easy way, however, tends to detach one from a sense of community, a pride in people and place.
Yeah, I know — community is a difficult thing to define. And we live in a more transient world, tugged here and there by jobs or other circumstances. If I counted right (an iffy thing, always) I’ve lived in a dozen different cities over the years. Yet I think we become more attached to those places where we commit a little of ourselves.
It doesn’t take much — a clean up day here, an evening at the park listening to music, dropping in on an art gallery gathering or local festival. Suddenly, you begin to feel a part of the community.
So the benefit of high school students or youth groups committing a few hours of time to the mundane tasks of sweeping litter or pulling weeds is great. Hopefully, wherever these kids go in life, they will continue to be involved.
Or, at the very least, they will remember the time someone duped them into waking early and grabbing a broom.
