As I was reading the Ridgely’s Record on-line yesterday, I came across these briefs  in the April 2010 issue (soon to be shoved in your mailbox, whenever someone gets around to it).  I hope you enjoy rolling your eyes while reading them as much as I did!

Thank You (reprinted exactly as posted, sans commas and all)

• To Walt from Dover St. for constantly keeping the 700 block of Dover free of trash and weeds.
• To Ben from Melvin St. who thought he may need to miss a community clean-up so he spent one weekday morning removing trash and debris from Penn St. in front of the tot lot.
• To Dave from Washington St. who took a trash can and shovel to Conway Park and picked up the excess dog poo left over after the winter storms.

Really? You toot your own horn to the little neighborhood newsletter because you did something good for your community? Are you so eager to gain praise that you brag about your good deeds to garner praise? That’s like going to the gates of Heaven, and slipping the gate attendant angel a 5-spot for faster service.

Practicing random acts of kindness IS a good philosophy to have–however, the joy in giving to others is not in the praise, but in the knowledge that it was done selflessly.  Begging for recognition and praise thereby NEGATES your good deed, and turns it into a selfish act.

You know, Walt, I appreciate your efforts on Dover Street, but why can’t you expand your maintenance to the 600 Block? Those guys need some serious help getting their street cleaned up. Maybe you can put together a crew and do that, m’kay? Especially considering that there are 20x the number of people who live in the 600 block as opposed to the 700 block, AND that’s where the on-street parking is.

And Ben, you rock for taking the initiative to clean up trash and debris from in front of the tot lot. Lord knows that all the big garbage that the regular garbage truck won’t pick up gets dumped there (mattresses, air conditioners, etc).  My question is–did you call 311 to schedule a bulk-trash pick up? Let me know how that worked out for you.

And lastly, to Dave from Washington Blvd who lowered himself to pick up dog poo from the park.  Hello? The only people I ever see using the beloved park on Conway are PEOPLE WALKING DOGS. And since we have notoriously lazy dog owners who can own an animal but not spend the time to pick up it’s poo, well, what did you expect to find when the snow melted? Tulips? If all the abandoned dog poo in Ridgely’s were flowers, we could…well, we could do something that requires a CRAP load of flowers.

Oh yeah,  just in case you haven’t read it yet, the community meeting is at Frank and Nic’s on April 7. Have fun at the monthly social gathering.