Clean Up, Clean Up

I'm back in Pasadena today, and I was out driving around to re-stock the pantry, to buy my lotto tickets (you can't win if you don't play) and to try to get my truck out into the rain to knock some of the dust off it. It's two days after the Rose Parade - which I'd kind of forgotten about since Saturday to tell you the truth - and the guys are out in the rain and cold tearing down the bleachers they put up just weeks ago. It's a sight I'd seen before, I've lived here a while. But something struck me as I drove down Colorado Blvd.
   The streets aren't nearly as trashed as they have been in years past.
   Immediately after the Rose Parade, when people either go home, go to a local restaurant, or head for the Rose Bowl, Colorado Blvd. looks like someone drove by and dumped a city's worth of garbage on every street corner. Most of the littering is not malicious (except for the silly string and tortillas), merely careless and the result of packing over a million people along a 5 mile parade route. And the litter usually lingers for days, even though city crews make the effort to clean up quickly.
   This year, though, the streets are almost spotless. For streets, anyway. The sidewalks still have some of the taped-off squares people use to reserve their spots, but I don't see a lot of silly string debris, or the tiny scraps from sugar or ketchup packets, or the paper wrapped around straws... It's almost like people suddenly became more courteous and conscientious.
   Sure, the city crews could just be very efficient and cleaning like demons, but I prefer to think that people are thinking about others and behaving themselves better. Maybe it's misguided, but it makes me feel better about humanity.