Picking Up Trash as Religion

Eighty-nine year old Pete Seeger spends most of his Saturdays at the intersection of Route 9 and 9D in Wappingers Falls, New York. He stands vigil with a dozen others in protest of the Iraq War. On the other side of the intersection pro-war supporters counter demonstrate.

He also picks up litter. “This is my religion now,” said Mr. Seeger. “Picking up trash. You do a little bit wherever you are.”

In my estimation Mr. Seeger has long had a personal narrative rich in activism, one song at a time, before thousands of small gatherings and a few large gatherings, year after year. He has distilled his activism into a strategy of little deeds. He now reckons that a hundred little demonstrations across the country might have more effect than in one big demonstration in New York City. So he stands by the roadside in Upstate New York with a home fashioned peace sign and picks up litter.

Pete Seeger is our culture's greatest ethiticist--both in practice and theory. (You can measure his success through his instrumental role in the miraculous cleanup of the Hudson River.)

And I recommend that if you understand and implement his organizing precept ("do a little bit wherever you are."), you will align yourself with an irresistible moral force. You will also feel good at the core of your being.

[See the New York Times June 22 article about Pete Seeger's roadside vigil: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/22seeger.html]