Last fall semester, students at the dining hall ate outside during the nicer weather. Then they ended up leaving their glasses outside, with the remnants of sweet slick soft drink. A swarm of bees ended up making their home nearby, seduced by the sugar. Needless to say, most people didn’t go outside to eat too much after that. It’s not that they meant to attract bees, but their own recklessness led to a revocation of their privilege.
We can lose items, forget to clean up, embarress ourselves whichever way, but we should be careful to not be reckless with our relationships. Afterall, you can always clean up the bathroom later, but a human heart isn’t so easily fixed. Our connections with other people make it so that its power also is its weakness. Our actions aren’t isolated variables in a lab, but impact those around us, as they impact us.
So maybe not cleaning up is just a small reckless thing, but to the person who has to clean it up, its a small reckless hurtful thing. Those little things add up, and the price of a lack of consideration may be very steep. We can’t control every tiny little thing, but we can be kinder than we are, more cautious to how our behaviors affect other people. Today is a good day to be kind.
