Change the World… Make It a Better Place

Everything clicked at the conclusion of my freshman year in college, following a reunion dinner with some friends I grew up with. After dinner, we were riding to one of their houses, but when we met a red light, I witnessed the unthinkable. My friend sitting in the passenger seat in front of me opened his door and set his Arizona can on the side of the road. I was literally in shock.

I’ve never owned a car and I have only had my license for about a year and a half now. I spend a lot of time walking and using public transportation to commute. In my travels, I see the oddest pieces of litter on the side of the road: a pair of patent leather shoes, umbrellas, socks, underwear… At this point, I’m pretty confident that anything you can think of can be found on the side of a road somewhere. Until that night, when I witnessed such tragedies, I never understood how such random items became litter in places with no foreseeable dumpster from which they may have been displaced.

I was livid that night. Falling over my own words, I pleaded my case. “Why would you do that?!” “That doesn’t make any sense!” “We’re going to be at the house in a few minutes!” “Are you serious right now??” Instinctually, I grabbed the hat off of his head with a threat to throw it out of the window. Two wrongs don’t make a right; I conceded. But, surely, that would have been a just penalty.

These are my questions to all the bold litterers out there: Are you at least shy about it? When you throw your dirty toothbrush on the ground, do you at least look around and make sure no one’s watching? When your night stand falls out of whatever truck you were using to transport it, do you at least feel bad that it was left somewhere on the highway as another man’s burden?

I think this is my biggest pet peeve: the soda can or the fast-food cup placed ever so delicately next to a trash can.

…What?

Where’s the logic? Everything in me screams that it surely took more energy to bend over and place that cup on the ground than it would have taken to just put the thing in the trash can. And I am not referring to overflowing trash cans, my friends. I speak of trash cans begging to be filled, but yet, the trash is placed right next to it. How inconsiderate to that poor trash can. It’s like putting steak on the outside of a starving dog’s cage. I cannot comprehend.

Now, to the unintentional litterers, I am amongst your ranks. Sometimes, we truly do forget we put our Gatorade bottle under our chair. Sometimes, we truly do forget about that balled up napkin we set next to us. But, to the intentional litters, I charge you to practice patience. I charge you to practice courtesy. When you get that urge to litter, reconsider! Wait for the next trash can you see. It will come soon; I can almost promise you this. And, remember, someone has to pick up what you leave behind. And I don’t want to hear any of that, “I’m making jobs” argument. I call, “nonsense!” and the bailiff shall remove you quickly. So, friends, the next time you see litter, won’t you pick it up? I’ll lead the way.