Why

Why?

On the sidewalk, next to a white Tesla, are two coffee cups.

One is obvious. You can tell the name of the coffee shop they went to because the name is right there on the cup. They had an iced drink because it’s in that type of cup.

The other cup is a plain white cup that probably carried a hot drink.

But the real question is, why?

Why did the people who had these two drinks leave them on the sidewalk? Why didn’t they throw them away? What were they thinking?

If they had stayed at the coffee shop and finished their drinks there, they probably would have thrown the cups into the trash. And since they have the means to purchase coffee, they probably have a home. In that home are trash cans. They could have simply taken the cups home and thrown them away there.

Now another question remains.

Why don’t I throw them away? Or anyone else passing by? Whose obligation is it to throw them away?

Obviously, it’s the people who drank the coffee in the first place. They should have thrown the cups away.

But now the cups are there for me to take pictures of, for me to notice while walking my dog, and for me to ponder.

Why?

I’ll never know because I don’t see the people who left the cups behind.

A mystery.

What small mystery have you walked past this week?