THE SAGA OF THE DIRTY DIAPER
On Thursday last week, as I Ieft work at the end of a busy day, I noticed that someone had changed a baby’s diaper and left all of its contents on the drive in front of the school. Used baby wipes were scattered about the front of the school and the exposed contents of the diaper were enough to turn my stomach. Incidentally, I’ve raised four babies to adulthood, so not much grosses me out.
The diaper was still there when I returned to work on Friday morning. Partially frozen due to the overnight sub-freezing temperatures, it was still there, with all of its exposed fecal material in plain view. Several students noticed and commented on it as they arrived for school on Friday morning. “Honestly, who DOES that?” “That’s gross!” “Are you kidding me?” “I’m not picking that up during Service Learning!”
The irony and the parallels to what the Alternative High School is struck me. While I can promise you that I did not change a baby in front of the school on Thursday afternoon, it occurred to me that it WAS my responsibility to pick up and dispose of what someone had left. Leaving that diaper in front of the school for anyone, and especially visitors to see is just not acceptable. Leaving it for someone else to clean up didn’t seem reasonable as the diaper had already been there overnight. Whose job IS it to pick up what others have carelessly discarded? The answer is very evident: We are all responsible.
I implore to the common sense and sensibility of each student. What are you doing to help boost the reputation of the school? Regardless of whether or not you left the lunch tray or dirtied the toilet seat or broke a head set or threw a half consumed sticky beverage container into the recycle bin – aren’t we ALL responsible for what the school looks like? And ultimately, the image of the school speaks volumes about what goes on inside.
So, that dirty diaper has me thinking. Are we in this together or are we simply continuing to take, continuing to expect handouts and continuing to rape the system with preconceived notions of entitlement and expectation? I can hope and I will continue to encourage that we MUST be in this together or we stand the risk of failing and falling together. Is our school an eyesore? If it is, then that’s what the community will think of each of us – right or wrong.
Doing the RIGHT thing, whether it is your mess or something that someone else left – is what we all need to do if we are to develop some sense of pride in the school, ourselves, and in the community. Don’t be a dirty diaper. Do the right thing. Always.
