In a disposable, throw-away society, it is comforting to know that Jesus Saves. Somebody has to save. I decide to help Jesus.
“The library sells used books,” I say to my neighbor when he pulls into his drive after work and sees me rummaging through boxes of books at the curbside in front of his house. The books were among the remains of his picked-over pile of discards for Santa Clara’s annual city-wide spring clean-up.
“They’re heavy,” he says as I start to drag a box across the street to my house. “Do you want me to get you a dolly?”
“Good idea; I’ll get one from home,” I say. “Watch them so nobody takes them before I get back.” I return with the dolly and, one at a time, haul two boxes of books to my house.
I put brown grocery bags in the trunk of my car and fill five with books for the library. I’m already feeling virtuous. However, I keep “The Sunset Gardener’s Answer Book” and “Why Men Don’t Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes” for myself.
The projected cost of the 2011 annual city clean-up is $1.5 million.