Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

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Recycling. Turned into the yard With my load of recycling materials. Metal scraps here, bins there-- Ordered chaos all around. Retrieved a dolly and receiving barrels. Dumping now mostly plastic bottles, Along with their myriad of caps, Carefully segregated--each in its own barrel. (The CRV, California return value, specially separate!) Barrels full, up to the weight master, Contents, each dumped together, by category. Oh, a cap fell out on the floor! "Please retrieve that back into my load." The Weight Master laughed. "That is only one cap--no weight !" "Ah", I said, "but with the other hundred, A measurable amount of weight does accrue!" On that note the Weight Master Not only retrieved my single cap, But grabbed several other orphan caps, Scattered and remaining on the floor, And threw them smilingly into my load! Moral: One vote really does count. One aborted, polluting, but unnecessary trip does count. One purchase of an energy efficient device does count. One meal with no leftovers thrown away does count. One cup of water not squandered does count. One family with a planned size does count. Yes, even one bottle cap, together with others, Does count. Frank Maurer 15 April 2023 1200 PM.