Another post in honor of Five for Ten which is brought to you by the wonderful sisters at Momalom.com
Do you have the courage of your convictions? This is often a touchy subject for people. Dictionary.com defines the idiom having the courage of one’s convictions is to act in accordance with one’s beliefs, esp. in spite of criticism. Because as parents we have no instruction manual, I sometimes find myself defensive in the view of criticism but that is only with regards to my parenting. As for other convictions, I make no apologies.
What convictions, you may ask. Or, you may not really care yet I feel compelled to write about this one important conviction of mine.
Environment!
My conviction to try to not impact our environment too harshly has been long in the works. I read Silent Spring while in high school. I went to college and studied recreational use of forest lands. I still am an active participant in environmental and science-related activities.
I started recycling before curbside pick-up was available in my area. While I cannot, of course, find the current number, at one point in time, my county recycled 58% of its solid waste. I swore that most of that was mine. I would have a garage full of tied up newspapers, aluminum cans that had both ends taken off and flattened, glass jars that would not be reused.
I would load kids in the mini-van and pack in the recyclables around them.
Off we would go to recycle. No one around me could understand. My neighbors, when curbside recycling began, could not understand how my bin was always overflowing. Neighbors could not understand how I wanted to know when other plastics would be added, why we had to separate our recycling, why certain rules applied.
Courtesy abcteach
I do look long and hard at the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle. I try to buy items with the least packaging available, thereby reducing my trash and recycling. I do reuse containers and other packaging when possible. I, then, as a last resort, recycle.
Do you have an issue that you always stand up for, that you know – almost without thinking – where you are on it? Is there something so vital to your core that your friends seldom ask you where you stand?
