My plan to clean up Italy.

I sat on a park bench today and closed my eyes. Sort of fell asleep. Not totally. I was still vaguely conscious. Enough to think about how pleasant. To sit and rest. To allow myself to drift. Being in no hurry. Savoring the moment. In a sense, doing nothing. Being idle. But doing something meaningful. By doing what's commonly called nothing. And then I opened my eyes. To see a city worker in the park in the city of Carbonia in Sardinia. Using a gas-powered whirling lawn edger. Trimming around the palm trees that need absolutely no trimming. He's going through the motions. Because he has to do something in order to justify getting paid, I suppose. Even if the something doesn't need doing. If I were the city boss, I'd have the worker doing something else. Picking up the litter strewn about the city. Litter, litter, everywhere. In one way, Carbonia is a beautiful city, in that the city has planted trees and shrubs and flowers almost everywhere. Along the streets and boulevards and walkways and in the parks. But the city has made virtually no effort to pick up the litter. This seems typical of cities across Italy. Making Italy one of the world's most beautiful countries. But also one of the dirtiest. A national shame. If I were an Italian or spoke fluent Italian I'd go on a campaign/crusade to clean up Italy. The cities. The countryside. I'd call for a national clean-up day. Or maybe a clean-up week. Asking every citizen to spend time picking up the debris. Italians could do it. Effectively. If only they set their minds to it. Imagine that. Transforming Italy almost overnight. From the dirtiest country. To one of the cleanest. --Jim Broede