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> PLEASE: Leave no trace Someone once mentioned "Leave it nicer than you found it" as a life philosophy, maybe in relation to Japan? I'm not sure anymore. I'v

by Aachen 3y ago

> PLEASE: Leave no trace Someone once mentioned "Leave it nicer than you found it" as a life philosophy, maybe in relation to Japan? I'm not sure anymore. I've taken to that, like when going for a forest walk, even if I pick up literally one tiny plastic wrapper, that's still leaving the forest better than I found it. Of course, pristine is pristine, but if there is trash, go for that good feeling and consider an easy thing to do that would improve the situation by any amount!

aloisdg 3y ago
I know this one as the boy scouts rule: always leave the campground cleaner than you found it. Kind of true for codebase too
jrussino 3y ago
Thoreau, in Walden, on borrowing an axe: "The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it." A high school English teacher used this passage to impress upon us this same philosophy of "leave it nicer than you found it" (in particular, I remember him telling us that our parents leave us in his care and he saw it as his job to "return us sharper than we were received") and it's one of those rare moments that made such a deep impression on me I remember it often even decades later.
- UberFly 3y ago
  Thanks. Love what you've written here.
- rhcom2 3y ago
  Always fill up the tank when you borrow a friend's car.
JohnFen 3y ago
Yes, this. I take LNT very seriously, and when I am in an area where someone didn't, it's still on me to clean it up. If I don't, then I'm leaving a trace (not one that I caused, but a trace nonetheless).
rstarast 3y ago
Also, how many of those tiny plastic wrappers accidentally fell from someone's backpack side pocket or similar? You have to do a bit of "leave it nicer than I found it in terms of things I'm aware of" just to break even.
BubbleRings 3y ago
I picked up 4 pieces of trash today on the Fernwood nature trail in Ohiopyle, PA yesterday. It was every piece I saw on the whole loop trail, except one candy wrapper far under a bush right when we were leaving. I think i have to get that last piece tomorrow!
m463 3y ago
Re: Japan - Japan teaches this early, Japanese students clean their own schools.
- Aachen 3y ago
  Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere? Though I've never questioned why that wasn't the case in primary or tertiary education here, so maybe it's also not that normal for us. It's somewhere between annoying and a punishment, not seen as taking care of your own stuff, maybe that's different in Japan / elsewhere in general. At work I feel weird about cleaning personnel, as though we consultants are above vacuuming the place every once in a while and such (and they leave wiped desks dirtier than they found them, typically wiping my clean-to-the-eye desk with a dusty rag).
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere? I've never heard of this in US public schools.

by Aachen 3y ago

aloisdg 3y ago

I know this one as the boy scouts rule: always leave the campground cleaner than you found it. Kind of true for codebase too

jrussino 3y ago

Thoreau, in Walden, on borrowing an axe: "The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it." A high school English teacher used this passage to impress upon us this same philosophy of "leave it nicer than you found it" (in particular, I remember him telling us that our parents leave us in his care and he saw it as his job to "return us sharper than we were received") and it's one of those rare moments that made such a deep impression on me I remember it often even decades later.

UberFly 3y ago
Thanks. Love what you've written here.
rhcom2 3y ago
Always fill up the tank when you borrow a friend's car.

JohnFen 3y ago

Yes, this. I take LNT very seriously, and when I am in an area where someone didn't, it's still on me to clean it up. If I don't, then I'm leaving a trace (not one that I caused, but a trace nonetheless).

rstarast 3y ago

Also, how many of those tiny plastic wrappers accidentally fell from someone's backpack side pocket or similar? You have to do a bit of "leave it nicer than I found it in terms of things I'm aware of" just to break even.

BubbleRings 3y ago

I picked up 4 pieces of trash today on the Fernwood nature trail in Ohiopyle, PA yesterday. It was every piece I saw on the whole loop trail, except one candy wrapper far under a bush right when we were leaving. I think i have to get that last piece tomorrow!

m463 3y ago

Re: Japan - Japan teaches this early, Japanese students clean their own schools.

Aachen 3y ago
Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere? Though I've never questioned why that wasn't the case in primary or tertiary education here, so maybe it's also not that normal for us. It's somewhere between annoying and a punishment, not seen as taking care of your own stuff, maybe that's different in Japan / elsewhere in general. At work I feel weird about cleaning personnel, as though we consultants are above vacuuming the place every once in a while and such (and they leave wiped desks dirtier than they found them, typically wiping my clean-to-the-eye desk with a dusty rag).
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere? I've never heard of this in US public schools.