What a difference trash makes

As my friends know, I'm a CraigsList addict.  Recently, I bought four wooden chairs -- for $20 each! -- and drove to Mount Juliet to get them.  My friend Lauren and I exited off the interstate, drove a few miles, and then some more.  Since it was around 9 o'clock, we were nervous about the actual pick up.

When my friend Anna bought a dining room table off Craiglist, she called me, left the phone on, and stuck it in her purse.  I could hear all that was going on, presumably to be able to call the police if things got crazy. 

Lauren and I had no such precautions.

House after house was surrounded by litter.

"If the house looks like these, I'm not going in," Lauren said.

Then, we turned the corner, and everything was much cleaner.  Eventually, we ended up at a mansion, settled right next to Dolly Parton's house.

The chairs were great - they'll be perfect with a good coat of white paint -- but the whole incident reminded me of what an impact litter has on the community.   This interesting article in The Economist sheds light on the issue:

A PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal.

It doesn't take much to clean up the trash in your neighborhood.  Throw on some gloves, put on some brightly colored clothing, grab your kids, and head out.  It could make a world of difference.

Now excuse me while I go paint my new chairs!