Let's Clean Up Our Environment

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

21 April 1999

Sunday's sermon at my church was by guest speaker, police officer Jim Ruberg of Burlington, Iowa. His message hit an important point worth talking about.

Too often we bring out all the errors a person has made rather than all the good things the person has accomplished.

We all know people who just seem to enjoy bringing others down. We mention something good a person has done, and this person will tell you something bad, and usually, it is the worst dirt they know (or have heard).

We are all somewhat guilty of this type of behavior.

We should be careful not to fall into a habit of remembering the bad in others, especially when the person has changed their pattern of life to become a productive citizen in our midst.

First, let me give you a test about what you remember about people.

I will mention a name and you tell me what comes to your mind about them.

What do you remember if I mention Bible characters: Jonah:, Samson:, and Peter?

According to Jim Ruberg, we usually remember how Jonah tried to run away from God and was swallowed by a whale rather than he repented then saved the Ninevites people.

We remember that Samson told his secret of strength to his lover, Delilah who told his enemy, and we remember how Peter was the disciple who denied Christ three times before his death.

We fail to remember how God quickly used these individuals, who repented of their failures, to carry out His plan. Samson still defeated many Philistines, and Peter gave miraculous testimonies for God as He forgave them and helped and encouraged them.

Let me try a more current test. What do you remember about President Bill Clinton? Whoops, caught you on that one.

Class reunions are an excellent place to test your ability to forget the bad that happen among classmates and focus on how a student has graduated, matured, and become successful in their role as a U.S. citizen.

Some of us, however, just can not seem to get past the bad acts that occur in others to see the productiveness they have brought to their surroundings.

People do disappoint us, but we have to remember that we have disappointed people, too.

We all have made choices we wished that we hadn't made. The key, of course, is to turn away from the error (or to repent) and to make productive lives for ourselves.

I didn't say perfect lives, for that is impossible.

But, we must try to do and give the best that we possibly can give, so we will be productive and caring citizens.

I really enjoy the Union Elementary Environmental Night which is held annually. They encourage us to be good caretakers of our environment or surroundings.

Our kids have seen us fail to recycle, fail at saving paper, fail at caring for our eroding soil, and fail at protecting our animals or plants.

But hopefully, our younger generation won't focus on us as complete failures as caretakers of this earth.

Hopefully, the younger generation will overlook our errors and work with us in setting up recycling bins in our garages, and in our places of business, plus give us more ideas about caring for the environment rather than look at us as failures.

One of my mother's favorite movies which she remembers as a young high school student is: "The Secret Garden". She was assigned to make a scrapbook about the book. In the latest movie of that book, the little girl asks her uncle if she can have a bit of earth. Her uncle neglected the garden after his wife had died there. He had it shut up and it grew up in weeds.

It took his young niece to show the beauty that we lose when we don't care for the things that surround us.

Somehow, I feel caring for the environment and caring for the people that surround us go hand in hand.

That means letting go of the bad and seeing the productiveness they may be bringing to our world.

Remember, good things come when we clean-up our environment. It not only includes the land and the air, but the "listening" environment that others may hear.

Let whatever comes out of our mouths be of good report. Let it be clean and polite enough about others, that it could be played on tonight's channel 8 news.