Keeping the parks clean

Kent Ridge Park in Singapore employs a man to operate this machine that vacuums the park premises. The dead leaves are sucked into a gigantic bag mounted at the back of this buggy. The process appears to be cumbersome and slow although it ensures that every leaf that lies in the way of the suction apparatus disappears from view. The machine is noisy and probably stirs up fine dust which explains why the driver has covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief. In contrast, a sweeper was engaged in a park near Beijing to sweep away fallen leaves. Clad in stylish, black leather jacket and pants, the sweeper went about her work producing little noise and went about her job professionally.

Whether using a broom or a high-tech method to keep parks clean, the two park sweepers definitely heeded the call of Martin Luther King, Jr when he said:

"If a man is called to be
a streetsweeper, he should sweep even
as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music,

or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts
of heaven and earth will pause to say,
“Here lived a great streetsweeper.”

I cannot help but wonder if in the name of progress, we sacrifice artistry and flexibility in the things that we do and and at the same time contribute to the pollution of the environment.