Turn those wheels, New Jersey

I really like New Jersey.  We moved here three years ago from Southern California.  I like the seasons, I like the trees, I like the farm stand markets in spring and summer.  I like the people, too. However, there is one aspect in which New Jerseyans really need to pick up their game.  I refer to the common habit of leaving shopping carts all over supermarket parking lots.

Now, it isn't as if that behavior is unheard of in California, but it's worse here. And it isn't as if cart return stands weren't provided; they are.  People just ignore them.  They leave their cart wherever it lands.  If there's room, it will be shoved between two cars, so that when one of them pulls away the cart goes careening through the lot.  Or, they prop them up on a curb, or--my favorite--in the blue striped area next to a handicapped space which is meant to allow a disabled person room to exit their vehicle.

Okay, I know I'm on a soapbox about this shopping cart thing.  A few years ago I had major surgery, and while recovering, I started to go out to supermarkets, first accompanied and then alone. It was a huge effort for me, and when the day came that I could do it by myself, and return the cart to a cart return stand felt like a milestone.  So here's a suggestion to all, in New Jersey and California and everywhere else: As you wheel your cart across the parking lot to the cart return, be grateful that you are well and strong enough to do it.