It is neat to see traces of those that were here before, whether 50 years ago, or 500 or 5,000. I've found newspapers inside walls from the 30's. I've also found and lost tools. I found a makita 7.2 drill inside a wall, that was a bonus because I had that make already.
Then do you see some of the stuff people throw out? On the new construction site that I did the siding for people would move in then throw out perfectly good tools, furniture, and electronics. It seems we are in a throw away society. And while I didn't grow up in the '30's, I grew up aware that we didn't have a lot, definately not enough to throw away. If it went bad, we re-purposed, recycled first. If it's good, don't throw out...donate.
I see the next door neighbors friends come over to visit. She's 16-17. Three times I watched while her friends leave and there is a pile of garbage where they were parked. If you want respect, you need to respect those around you too. I will say something to her next time I see her and hope the message gets passed on. Like Turbroke said in another thread, [paraphrased] we need more community spirit and it's up to us to provide it. Nowadays the net is the new community and I'm glad to be a part of it.
All of you that respond to these threads let me know I'm not wasting my time trying to make our world a better place. Everyday that I'm outside working on my stuff I make a point of saying hi to those walking by. Almost everyone responds, tho they may have a confused look on their face. For context, I live in a mid-sized city of ~100,000 on the main coridor between two large cities of over a million each, in a farming and oil-extracting province. My neighborhood consists of single family homes, duplexes [of which my wife and I own 1/2], and 4-plexes. I would say we are in a lower middle class neighborhood.
Enough rambling, time to go work on the race truck....
Richard