"Yuck!" I could not believe that I had talked myself into spending my Saturday picking up filthy trash. At the moment, I held a broken beer bottle with snot scattered atop. As much as I wanted to do it, dropping the dirty content on the earth floor would only contradict my intentions for volunteering for the service event. Holding on my breath for dear life, I quickly dumped the object into the soot black trash bag where other foul contents laid. I told myself that this volunteering experience would be rewarding to me because of the value of helping others and the environment, and I was right.

People consider me obsessive-compulsive. On a scale of one to ten, I rate myself a nine as a meticulous individual. When it comes to cleanliness, I might win an award for being the most annoying and overly tidy individual in the universe. One could imagine my expression as I laid eyes upon the trash scattered everywhere in only one neighborhood. Not to be a stereotyped as Hollywood's character of a valley girl, I honestly was not too energized in picking germs and muck. However, I made a pledge to myself to keep the promise that I had made only a few years ago.

The majority of family members on my father's side live in a rural area. Their houses are made out of mud. They live on no electricity. People must walk across and upon cow manure scattered across the ragged roads on a daily basis. Their neighborhood has no system of collecting trash or even recycling reusable materials. On my winter break visit to the heartland of Bangladesh, I witnessed all of this. The fact that my family had to live in these conditions breaks my heart. I want to help them. I want them to live in a better setting. However, because I am one person, I cannot fix everything for them. Yet, because I am one person, I can try to make an effort to improve polluted places one step at a time.

Even though I do not live in Bangladesh, I prolong my journey towards improving today's environment right here in the good, old U.S.A. While I pick up trash in one neighborhood, I succeed in bettering the environment. I help others of whom I know not, to live in a cleaner society. I am proud to be a part of this movement, this movement towards bettering the world one step at a time.