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People who litter disgust me.
I know. I shouldn’t be judging others. But I feel like out of all the things that people do, littering is one of those things that you can’t put blame on anyone but yourself. I’m not saying it’s the worst thing that a person can do, but it’s one of the most selfish:
You eat food or buy some product. You’re done with said product or the wrapping or whatever. You now have waste in your hand. And all you have to do is find a freaking trash can (a recycle bin would be better when applicable, but at the very least a trash can), but you say to yourself, “My hands have far more important tasks to take care of than carry this trash. I will leave it here so someone else with hands whose priorities are lower can take care of it.”
Jerkface.
Yeah, I said it.
There’s this phrase used to help people judge less – assume positive intent. For example, if someone cuts you off on the road, assume that they might have a real emergency, or they just found out their child is in the hospital, or that they really, really, really need to take a crap. You assume they didn’t purposely want to cut you off, so you don’t get too angry, and you don’t hold a grudge and go into road rage and cut other people off. However, I have a really hard time thinking of scenarios where someone was in some type of situation where they had to litter. Or that it was truly an accident. I can maybe understand/forgive a small piece of paper or something that truly might’ve just fallen out of a hand or pocket and just went unnoticed. But I’ve seen bigger things, like cups and bottles. You don’t go around, carrying a cup (presumably drinking from it at one point), and then drop it and don’t even notice it’s gone. Or when the trash is behind bushes where no one walks. That’s not falling out of your hands, that’s purposefully chucking it.
So knock it off. Seriously. Unless you can tell me a legitimate reason why you can’t hold on to your garbage until you find a garbage can, stop littering (seriously, comment if you have a good reason, I’d really like to know). We can’t keep living like there are no consequences to our actions. You litter, the world becomes a dirty place. Think of your favorite place to go – whether it’s out in the woods, to the beach, to a park, on a boat, your house – wherever. What if it was piled up with trash? Instead of being able to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, you have to clean up a mess that wasn’t yours, or try to ignore the filth around you. That would suck, right?
But Deepu, we can’t force everyone to stop littering. Your post is pointless.
Maybe. Or maybe this will help a few people choose to stop littering, which is a start. Or it’ll encourage people to start picking up trash when they see it. I do this sometimes when I see trash, even though I really don’t want to. And I definitely don’t do it all the time – because sometimes it just looks disgusting and I don’t have an opportunity to wash my hands after. But if we all (the five people who read this and I) start picking up the trash we see more often, it’ll make the world a slightly cleaner place. It won’t be perfect, but it makes a difference.
The same goes for us helping others. Even though it’s someone else’s fault that there’s homelessness, hunger, war, racism, sexism, ismism, etc., we can make a difference by not partaking in or promoting those things. Instead of standing idly by while someone is being made a victim, we say something. We don’t laugh at the expense of others. We don’t spew hatred and judgment, but educated opinions. It won’t make a huge difference, but it’ll make a difference. And just like when someone sees you picking up someone else’s trash it might encourage them to litter less themselves or pick up trash also. When someone sees you standing up for what’s right, or just making better decisions, it might encourage them to do the same, or at least try to.
And isn’t that what being a Christian is all about?*
*Belief in Jesus Christ is kind of a part of it too.
For those that are thinking… “yeah, right, like you actually pick up trash while you’re walking by it!” I can attest that he does. And so much, in fact, that our 2.5 year old does it to now. Just yesterday, he chased down a straw he saw on the sidewalk blowing in the wind saying, “Mom! It’s garbage!” He picked it up, tried to hand it to me, but when i wouldn’t take if from him, he carried someone else’s trash to the garbage can because he learned if from his Dad!
Change lives, people… change lives…
Great post. I try to pick up just one or twp pieces each walk..God is good