I try to take a 30 – 60 minute
walk every morning on days I do not have my fitness class. I find my brain working overtime on a
variety of ideas that come to me along the way. Sometimes they are such that I hope I will still have them fresh
in my mind by the time I get home so I can write them down. Most times, though, they are gone by then.
Today was one of the days my
thoughts stayed with me. I had gone
over and over them until they seemed set in form. What struck me today, and it often has, is the amount of
litter—trash—that I see along the streets and walkways.
Years ago, when I was director of
youth education for my national church headquarters, one of my responsibilities
was the organization of an annual teenage youth conference for about 350 young
folks from all over the country. In one
of those conferences I met a young man who was from another country
participating in an exchange program.
One day as we were talking he mentioned to me his disappointment in
finding so much litter in “America the Beautiful.” He said that in his country he would be castigated for simply
spitting on the sidewalk. Regardless of
what other conditions might be discussed about issues in his country, the point
stuck with me through the years. It
seems far too easy for Americans, especially young people, though not they
alone, to simply drop trash where they stand.
It occurred to me as I walked
along past the middle school, the small park and the aquatic center on my way
to the path through the woods along Rickreal Creek, that even if we had trash
barrels every 50 feet, there would be those who still would drop their candy
wrappers, pop cans and bottles—beer cans in some cases—right on the spot. This morning I even saw a plastic bag of dog
poop that an owner has obviously picked up and bagged. I wonder who is supposed to take care of
it. Maybe mom is coming by later, like
she does picking up after others in the home regularly. I doubt it.
I suppose one could find all
kinds of reasons we do not seem to care as much for the way we treat our
country. The National Parks Service has
been running advertisements during this year of celebrating the history of our
national parks, showing the tons of garbage left in the parks by visitors each
year. Granted this is not necessarily
litter, but it is garbage. The tag line
in the ad is “We are what we leave behind.”
Cannot be said much clearer than that.
Among the many things I was
taught as a child was to NOT leave litter behind me. I wrapped used gum in the original wrapper or other paper and
disposed of it appropriately, carrying it home in my pocket, if necessary. Pop bottles were collected and redeemed at
the grocery store. (This was before the
many litter laws encouraging recycling.)
Besides the cleanup that was accomplished, I always had pocket money, an
incentive for my actions. I suppose I
could take a bag with me to hold litter that I find along my walks. I do pick up things that I find close to
garbage cans that someone couldn’t take the two steps to toss in the can.
So, the long and the short of the
story is that we could be doing a much better job of keeping our streets and
byways free of litter and trash. Lady
Bird Johnson, wife of former President, Lyndon Johnson, took on the mission of
beautifying our roadways by planting flowers.
We all get to enjoy that beauty.
