Volunteerism

What is a volunteer? For me, it is doing something useful that nobody asked you to do...you just do it because it needs to get done. Every year I get in trouble for being a good citizen. There are no "good citizen" awards because as we know, everybody by birthright, is a good citizen. I can never earn that status.

The crazy vines - some sort of wild bean and wild hops and wild something else - have enjoyed the neglect during this hot weather and taken over the roadside slopes and now the roads. Our roads are not very wide to begin with, so when wild vines creep from the slopes onto the roads and begin to cover the pavement, you know you have a problem. Children are forced to walk in the center of the lane because the vines are reaching for their ankles. Dogs can't poop along the roadside because there is no roadside without getting all tangled up in the vines. Cars veer toward the center and the whole thing is hazardous. I watch near accidents almost happen everyday. It gives me heart palpitations.

So, in the spirit of being a good citizen, I decided to cut the weeds. Armed with a new rotary blade on my gas canister powered cutting implement, like a warrior going to battle, I engaged the weeds in a cutting match. It was not easy because the vines did not like being cut and rather tangled themselves in the rotating blade but in the end I was victorious. My mother-in-law reprimanded me for wasting gas; the neighbors said I shouldn't be doing it; the village leader said it was the responsibility of the village but that they only schedule one day a year to deal with the weeds (tell the weeds). Don't grow so fast, there is only one day we will cut you back. Whatever. Now we can walk to the all important garbage collection place, where all important meetings happen, without tripping over a tangle of weeds.

I discovered, and tried to bring to the attention of important people, who ignored me, because they do not need more problems at this time, that the weeds have been covering a problem with the roads. Indeed, about eight inches of roadway has cracked off the road and fallen over the edge of the slopes, taking the white line with it. Now there is no clear delineation of the edge of the road. Seeing as we don't have street lights, this could be a problem for the uninitiated. Anyway, our roadway is eroding and nobody could see that unless the weeds were cut...then again, maybe the weeds were holding it together. Oh well.