I Did it for the Ducks 
by Jen Epting ‘03

I did it for the ducks. 

As I set out with my Mitzvah group on a Sunday afternoon to the Lehigh River, I was trying to rationalize what I was doing.  After all, we only had a little over an hour on the riverbank to pick up trash, and who would care that we had cleaned up a few bottles and some old tires?  It wasn’t the most prestigious job that could be done; in fact, at first I wished I’d been put in one of the groups working with the elderly or one of those baby-sitting kids.  Picking up trash seemed like a menial task, something people could do to feel like they were helping, but not really a job that had huge repercussions. 

So we’re sitting on the bus on the way to the riverbank, and Matt Jones ’02, the president of EnAcT, leads us in a rousing chorus of “Five little ducks.”  With ducks on the brain, we walked down to the river and it wasn’t until about halfway through our trash-collecting that I saw geese (ok, not ducks, but close enough).  They were about 100 yards from where I was picking through old beer bottles, and they seemed oddly out of place.  They stood next to an old broken-up washing machine.  “How has it come about,” I wondered, “that the natural geese are out of place along a riverbank as opposed to a broken washing machine?”

Suddenly, I became a trash fanatic.  Every piece of Styrofoam was my arch nemesis, every old can, my evil enemy.  I worked furiously to rid the area of the destructive garbage so that the geese could return to their natural habitat. 

I’m sure I looked somewhat ridiculous, jumping around the rocks on the riverbank in a bright orange tee shirt with what looked to be really big grill tongs, grabbing trash like it was my job.  But I had found a way to focus my energy.  It wasn’t about cleaning up all of Allentown, or even the whole riverbank.  I no longer felt like my efforts were in vain.  Because of me, in my orange tee shirt, those geese might feel a little more at home on their riverbank.

I think it’s a common feeling to get grandiose in our thinking.  We expect that we should only take on jobs that we get recognized for.  But it’s always possible to look for the little things that are affected in a situation.  Maybe not many people of Allentown are going to recognize that we cleaned up some trash on the riverbank.  Maybe no one will.  But I’d like to think that the geese will have an easier time of teetering around their home without walking through broken glass.

I’ve found that it’s hard to change something completely the first time I tackle it.  But I think the way to get around that is to focus on one small aspect of the challenge, whether it be cleaning a riverbank or something completely different.  It makes your efforts feel appreciated and though the work may not be acclaimed publicly, or at all, you’ll know you have made a difference.  Even if it’s just for ducks. 

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