Garth and the Ort

About 20 years ago, I worked as an instructor at an Environmental Education camp run by a college. Each group which came to us received tailored instruction/facilitation.

In the dining hall, we shared our ethics regarding waste. We encouraged school groups not to leave any "ort" on their plates. Now "ort" is a real word which basically means edible scraps. It became a kind of competition between tables.

One group of youngsters took this more to heart than other kids I had worked with. I sat with my group one morning as Garth, a skinny, pale, blond boy finished his pancakes. His classmates chided him because there was still syrup on his plate.

I reassured him that he didn't have to polish off the syrup but he looked at me and duty marched across his white-blond eyebrows. "I have to," he said. And he lifted his plate and drank from it.

There's no point to this story. It's just a memory I have, of a young boy doing what he felt was right.