Integrity, honesty and good character are best demonstrated by example.
The things we do when people are not looking define our characters, but the things we do when people are looking are the behaviours that other people will model either out of admiration or out of shame. However, example setting is one of the only ways to change the world for the better, and being a better version of yourself is the best form of example setting.
And so I was at the traffic lights in one of the villages on the way home from work the other day. I was at the front with my wheel on the white line, and a young lad pulled up behind me in some sort of hot hatch behaviour. Just as I was about to pull off the traffic lights, I heard something hit the ground back diagonally behind me, and he'd thrown his empty can of soft drink stuff out the window onto the road.
He's thrown it from the driver's side through the window and out of the car. Then he pulls off, and I look behind him with real disgust, and he stares me out.
There is a moment there where I want to go and kick his wing mirror off (very easily done with bike shoes and then ride like fuck, hoping not to get caught or run over by him, which is probably what would happen).
I managed to rein it in, carry on and leave it.
I'll return tonight, pick the can up, and put it in the bin.
Who the f*ck does somebody think they are that they can throw the rubbish out of a car window (They do this at my house all the time) because they cannot be arsed to go to a bin.
Society needs a lot of example-setting and shaming of bad behaviour.
We've let things go way too far in the wrong direction.
It will take a long time and a lot of example setting to get it right.
Perhaps we best start now, then.
Blog Post Number - 3887