Heaven can’t wait
Like many people out there, I don’t like waste, so I’ll be frank about it – I’m upcycling a micro-essay previously submitted to a zine called L.C.D., as in ‘Lowest Common Denominator.’ I wrote it in response to a call for ‘miniature’ free forms, stimulated by the fact that their summer issue was slated for publication this late July. But I didn’t send the piece expecting to hear back. More than anything, this was a writing prompt. Regardless of the outcome, I planned to use the mini-essay as scaffolding for this very article:
“This is a free-form edition; however, thinking of our L.C.D. makes me stop in my tracks, and be a little O.C.D. about the whole thing. Since our Lowest Common Denominator has always been the ground under our feet, here comes an abridged N.Y. story about Earth, which fittingly enough, started in July 2021. Indeed, this is the 4-year anniversary of the first Heaven tag ever found. It painfully stood out on The Streets of Brooklyn, due to the High Contrast between this globally accepted symbol of purity and peace, carved in asphalt by an unknown person, and the long-standing, one-foot-deep pile of litter beneath it.
The photo was taken before a birthday cleanup, which opened a tedious yet playful quest, pursuing… real love. In the city that made the words ‘I <3 NY’ go around the world, this is about a grassroots journey promoting love for Earth as a simple action anyone could do. (Refuse disposable plastic bags, straws, balloons; replace paper cups with travel mugs since not even compostable cups get recycled, etc.)
In case you wonder if you’re too early or Too Late at the party, Moment Zero, a.k.a. that birthday cleanup, was on July 31st 2021. (Bonus celebratory tunes – do one YouTube search of all bold italic words from above, and one search for those below.)
Over 100 Heaven tags later – and a free eco-scavenger hunt where players discover Heaven after Heaven, outlining two routes on the map – the message of the story is, ‘When we do the right eco-thing we win Heaven On Earth Points.’ We need those! Chances are that Heaven was always here, yet ‘Life is hell 24/7, otherwise Heaven,’ couldn’t be truer nowadays. But there’s hope!
On a positive note, the eco-game blended with ongoing eco-activities, such as engaging N.Y.-ers to recycle 400 pounds of vapes – each vape out of thousands equals 1 H.O.E.P.
Another positive outcome is the petition asking for trash cleanups to become a new Olympic Sport by 2028! Sign it to effortlessly win 1 instant Heaven On Earth Point!”
You just read 95 percent of that very short essay. Before I jump to the final paragraph, I’m adding the following comments.
Earth Stickers
When I submitted the above piece in May, I was estimating 400 pounds of vapes collected by the end of July. Yet, the number went up to over 500 pounds. This grassroots eco-operation is connected to the initiative mentioned in this article; and the first photo seen there shows a tray with Earth stickers. I started painting those as a form of therapy, in February 2025.
Heaven Stickers
Meanwhile, the second photo in this very article shows the first Heaven tag I ever found, in July 2021. Over the next year I ran into at least 100 more, and because I didn’t want them to remain unseen, I created a free eco-scavenger hunt on the streets of Brooklyn – to mark the moment we became 8 billion people on Earth, on November 15th 2022. That fall, someone designed and ordered for me a custom Heaven stamp, based on the tags. I only used it two years later, in the summer of ‘24, when I made a few Heaven stickers. But I didn’t do much with those either; I guess, the moment wasn’t right yet.
Heaven on Earth Points
Fast-forward to February 2025; I now had (1) hand-made Heaven stickers, and (2) Earth stickers. I also had (3) the concept of winning Heaven on Earth Points, when we do the right eco-thing – which was alive since 2022. As stated, it was introduced in the scavenger hunt.
Between February and late May 2025 I attended four monthly events where, part of indoor eco-games, I gifted people free (1) Earth and (2) Heaven stickers, letting them know of (3) the significance, as well.
But I also told them, (4) “While these stickers are cute, they are just objects. If you want to win 1 real Heaven on Earth Point, right here, right now – you can, and it will only take you seconds – when you sign the petition asking to make Trash Cleanups an Olympic Game!”
This is the part where the interested ones scanned a QR code, taking them straight to the petition. (You may notice that the first image in there, and the second one in this article are very similar. The former is the before picture, while the latter depicts an intermediate stage of the same cleanup. If you scroll down on the petition page, you’ll see the after picture, too.)
Many people liked the stickers, and the Trash-Olympics idea. Surely but steadily, the signatures went up each month. However, I was not promoting it otherwise; so, there were no other incoming votes.
This changed in June 2025. Of course, there is this article about the petition that I wrote, but it is not the main reason for the spike in signatures. It took me a bit to understand that Change.org is sharing the petition more and more, because people are being receptive to it, in the first place. (I hope I won’t jinx it, but I feel I should highlight this spontaneous, touching display of Earth-love, and thank everyone!)
As of July 29th, there are 430 signatures, versus 282 on June 3rd – which took 6 months to accumulate. (Up to 15 out of these recent 148 votes came through in-person pitches.)
Thank You
All 430 persons who signed the petition will receive this article as an update. Except for around 100, whom I met in person, the rest are unaware they have won 1 Heaven on Earth Point! Well, you just found out! (If you want to celebrate, don’t forget to look up the bonus tracks hidden in this article; find the details for one – above, and for the other one, below.)
Thank you all, dear Earth-lovers – both past and future petition-signers; I wish one day I’d gift everyone stickers! Yet, with or without them, the actual points you’ve earned matter most. More H.O.E.P, more H.O.P.E.
The Take Home Message
Where am I going with this? I guess I wanted to introduce this story, so you all know there’s something more behind those photos, and behind the petition itself – such as the eco-scavenger hunt. And the hunt wouldn’t even exist without the Heaven-Person, who undeterred, wrote ‘Heaven,’ hundreds of times, in this crazy world. Most often, those tags remain unseen; they are hidden in plain view. Is there anything else we might miss?
Anyhow, I plan to re-release the eco-scavenger hunt text soon, and it comes with plenty of Heaven-tags photos! (The material was accessible online until not long ago. Once it will be back, anyone will be able to read it, from wherever they are in the world; while New Yorkers and tourists are invited to go in person on the Heaven-Tour, located on the streets of Brooklyn.)
Is there a take home-message? Yes; how about a good Internet-challenge? If you signed the petition, please go back, and share it with your networks. Don’t let the good information stop with you. Let’s make the Trash-Olympics happen!
Some people ask me if I want to meet the Heaven-Person. I say, “Not really, (I leave it to destiny).” Why? Because I know everything I need to know. I call it, “the big umbrella of love.” We are already connected.
When you sign and share the petition, you also connect to the Heaven-Person; to me, to each other – and if together, we make the Trash-Olympics real, we’ll surely connect in the most profound, new way to our planet.
Here comes the last paragraph of the micro-essay.
“After almost 200 tags that ‘religiously’ read solely ‘Heaven,’ in April 2025… we synchronized! The Heaven-Person, amazingly persistent – most likely unaware of the eco-muse role – finally wrote a sentence, and confirmed… ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth!’
As for you, my dear, don’t be late – get those H.O.E.P.’s today! Sandra is cool, but The Streets are right. Heaven Can’T Wait.”
