T1 the Trashman

T1 made me so proud tonight. We decided to go to the park tonight and before we left the house T1 asked if he could pick up trash while at the park. Not wanting to deter a good deed, I said that was fine and told him to grab a trash bag and plastic gloves. When we got there he was very serious about picking up the trash, commenting frequently how disgusted he was with people who litter and smokers who through their cigarette (pronounced "cigret") butts on the ground. He filled up his trash bag and emptied it in the trashcan over and over so he could pick up more trash. He used long sticks to bring trash out of the pond and he even waded in the water a few times so he could grab some trash in the water that he couldn't reach with the stick. When we were ready to go, he asked when he could come back and pick up trash again. He's awesome, isn't he? A few times he commented that his friends would call him a dork if they saw him doing this, but I disagreed. I told him they would probably respect him for doing it and may even follow his good example. He doubted me at first, but then this young all-American college couple (people that T1 would look up to on the surface) watched him for a while and made a point to tell me how great it was that he was doing that. I replied that the timing of their comment was perfect because T1 was scared people would think he was weird. They joked that they first thought I was punishing him for something, but then realized he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart and they were very impressed. I, too, was very impressed. What a wonderful soul!