Not on My Watch

They were somewhere in the age range of 12-14, 3 boys and 1 girl who was the eldest, walking ahead of me on a Village Street on a lazy afternoon. That one of the boys ran the buzzer of an apartment house as he passed didn’t really faze me. That another of the boys  pilfered a sugar packet off an outside restaurant table wasn’t what made me take action either. It was after he emptied the packet down his throat and tossed the paper in the street that I felt compelled to say something. ‘Next time, throw the paper in the trash container not on the pavement’. He tried to look away and the girl thinking I was making trouble, tried to scurry them along. To her, ‘Listen, that he took the sugar, is between him and the restaurant, but littering, that’s between him and me and I would like that he not do it again’. She didn’t know about the sugar and started to berate him for the stealing. I said, You can go after him for that, but I hope he hears me, don’t litter. That’s all.’ Did it help? Who knows. Maybe he’ll get the greater message: you never know who sees what you do. Take note.