With tomorrow being Earth Day, I thought I’d share a story as told to me by my co-worker, Mike Toles (paraphrased, of course):

When I was younger my politics were a lot more liberal.  In my early 20s, I was working at one of my first corporate jobs.  I went into the breakroom one day to get coffee, and this guy was in there washing out a mug.  It was close to Earth Day, so for some reason I asked him, “So…what are you doing for Earth Day?”

He was so startled that I had asked that particular question that he actually dropped his mug, completely shattering it in the sink.  He let out a disappointed groan and told me that he had owned the mug for 15 years or something; it had apparently held some kind of sentimental value to him.

Now that I think about it, it was kind of a stupid question…