Of Sidewalks and Lawn Clippings

As you may have gathered, I take little Nikki Dee for a walk every weekday morning around 9:30; well ... I walk and she sits and rides, which is a good deal if you can get it. For the past few mornings, I have been a little disappointed in some of the neighbours, not necessarily the immediate ones but those a little further along the route. There must be at least four properties that I pass that have recently mowed their lawns ... and not bothered to sweep the clippings off the sidewalk.

And I wonder why people behave that way. Is it intentional, thoughtless, rude, or an in-your-face attitude? I should imagine it's a somewhat innocent mixture of thoughtlessness and laziness for most, but leaving a job unfinished like that bothers me a bit because too many people seem to be either deliberately or unconsciously inconsiderate.

I'm not sure when I became conscious. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'm always a conscious human being even now. But I think that most of us do better as we get older. For all I know there may have been a time when I left lawn clippings on the sidewalk after mowing. Perhaps not, for I have recollections of blowing it to the side a long time ago in an old house in a faraway place when the girls were little and I was a young father. But I may not have always done it, or I may have been thoughtless in countless other ways.

A few years ago, I opined to a former neighbour, that I think that people finally mature around the age of thirty-two. Oh I just picked that number out of my hat, but I imagine that you take my point. It takes a while for most of us. The funny thing was that said neighbour breathed a sigh of relief because she had just barely qualified.

I know that we all have our own inner schedules and that's there's no specific magic age, but it takes most kids awhile to grow up in these times. I also know, for I have taught some, that there are some very mature-for-their-years teenagers and/or college students out there, so I am not making a blanket statement but just reflecting on things based on recently seeing multiple houses leaving their lawn clippings on their sidewalks.

All of that lofty thought (as if) from lawn clippings!

But really, when did you grow up? Was it when you moved out of your parents' home, when you got your first real job, when you had your first kid, or bought your first house? How old were you, do you reckon?