The slim cleaning lady was sweeping the street in the middle of the winter night. Each sweep was decisive and quick, as if she wanted to finish quickly so she could get home soon.
The cold wind blew through the leaves of the trees. I felt cold just listening to it. I finished my homework early so I covered myself with a blanket and sat reading a story. Looking out the window, I saw the drizzling winter rain and felt embarrassed to be out at this time of day.
Suddenly, the clanging sound of the garbage collector's bell interrupted my train of thought. While I was in warm blankets and soft mattresses, outside the garbage collectors were still working in the freezing cold. Through the glass window, I saw the image of a slim cleaning lady sweeping the trash on the street in the middle of the winter night. Each sweep of the broom was decisive and quick, as if she wanted to finish quickly so she could go home soon.
Outside, it was drizzling and the north wind was blowing fiercely. According to the weather forecast, the temperature would be around 12 degrees tonight. Yet she still had to work outside, even late at night.
I remember the story my mother told me a few days ago. She said that in our neighborhood, there was a family who was not very conscious and deliberately threw a broken table and chair set on the sidewalk, causing a cleaning lady who was working alone in the middle of the night to have to carry it into her car and accidentally fell and broke her toe. She had to take a few days off. My mother said that her family's circumstances were already difficult and now she had to take a day off. When will her sore feet in the middle of this freezing winter heal? Today, her co-worker must have taken over.
My mother often taught me that everyone has a different profession. No one wants to do hard work like the janitors, but because of their circumstances, they try to stick with their jobs. Their work is hard, so we have to be conscious of putting out the trash on time and sorting it before taking it out. My mother also told us to save up bottles, beer cans, and old books to give to the janitor to earn some extra income.
While everyone is at home, gathering together, the janitors have to go back to work. It is hard enough on clear, warm days, but on drizzly, windy days like today, it is even harder. Not only do they have to work outdoors, in the bitter cold, they also have to push garbage trucks several times larger than their bodies. They even have to endure the stench of garbage.
Their contribution to having a green, clean and beautiful city every day is huge. They work in shifts day and night. Now that there are garbage trucks, it's easier, but before I saw them pushing the garbage trucks all the way to Nam Cuong Hotel to collect the garbage. The distance was quite far, and the garbage trucks were heavy, so they must have been very tired.
Normally, I probably don’t pay much attention to the work of the cleaners, but after hearing my mother’s stories and today observing the image of the hard-working cleaners working in the middle of the winter night, I felt admiration and gratitude for them. I suddenly remembered some lines of poetry by the poet To Huu that I had just learned:Winter nights/ When the storm/ Just ended/ I stood watching/ On the silent street/ The cleaning lady/ Like iron/ Like copper...I understand this poem better.
From tomorrow I will try to take out the trash on time as my mother told me and prepare some old books to give to the cleaning lady. I hope my small gift will warm her heart in the cold winter day.
LE HUONG GIANG, GRADE 8A, TAN BINH SECONDARY SCHOOL (HAI DUONG CITY)