A Cleaner River

A Cleaner River

The three brothers were sitting on their boat, having a few beers and talking about the good old days. As they talked, they watched the trash float by on the St. James River. Their conversation turned to the trash.

“It didn’t use to be like this.” Said Manny. “Remember how we used to go swimming in this river? I wouldn’t put my big toe in this river nowadays. There’s no telling what disease you’d catch. Time was when people knew that trash went into trash cans. Nowadays, the stress, the wood, the public parks, and the lakes and river were just huge trash cans without lids.”

“Not to mention the freeways- last night on the radio they reported a refrigerator in lane one and a washing machine in the middle of an off –ramp,” said Moe. “And almost every day drivers have to dodge mattresses, ladders, and tires on the freeways. And what about all the graffiti on the freeway sings.”

They all agreed that slobs were making American ulgy. The Jack had an idea. “Look, since we’re all retired and we have the time and energy, why don’t we do something instead of just complaining? We can’t clean up our river.” They liked this idea, and talked about it for another couple of weeks. Many suggested a name for their effort- the Green Fleet, an organization devoted to turning the St.James River blue again.