Sunday, March 21, 2010

Litterbugs!

Pardon me while I rant for a moment: Generally, I really like people - I like working as a waitress, a bartender, a tour guide, because of the personal contact. I like talking to, observing, interacting with, and serving people. But, after spending a couple of hours this morning, doing our quarterly Adopt-A-Mile clean-up on the southern gateway to our city, I'm really upset with some people.

I was raised by an eco-conscious mom, back before the green, take-care-of-our-earth movement became fashionable. Anyone seen the television series Mad Men, set in the early 1960's? I know there's been some talk about how astonished folks have been when the pregnant Betty Draper sat down with a drink, cigarette in hand. You just don't see that these days - we know better. My astonishment moment though, was when the Drapers went out for a roadside picnic, and when it came time to leave just shook out their blanket, left the trash lying there, and got back in the car.

That never happened in my family. Mom says she knows none of her children are litterbugs. When she rides in any one of our cars, every one of us has a bag, box, or just the area behind the driver's seat where the debris of everyday living ends up. It's not on the roadside, that's for sure!

This logo is a free download available here.

Nowadays, we know better. So, why is it, every three months, when I'm out there on that same stretch of highway, I'm still picking up bottles and fast food bags and candy wrappers? And cigarette butts - we can't even get all the cigarette butts that are out there - we'd be out there for days (and this in an area prone to droughts and wildfires)! Please, people, don't we know better? What would your mother say?

5 comments:

Annodear said...

Disheartening, isn't it?

Attila said...

My mother would kill me if I dropped litter! And she's 82! She taught us all to bring rubbish home, and she'd spend time clearing out our pockets before she washed all the clothes (by hand!) Just reading that back to myself tells me what a great mum she is. I would never, ever in a million years drop a piece of litter.

Nancy M. said...

I don't litter, either. It makes me mad when I see folks throwing things out their car windows. Just driving down our road, I can see all kinds of things laying on the side of the roads. It's a shame people still do this!

Anonymous said...

What you said goes for me, too. We were well trained by our Mothers and Fathers. I, too, saw that Mad Men with the picnic and was stunned that they left the mess.
Jenny

Oya's Daughter said...

Oh gods, don't get me started - I live just a few miles from Stonehenge, and every summer people come out who are supposedly "spiritual and in touch with the earth" and they trash it. Completely TRASH the place. I've had friends go to the solstice event with plastic bags and instead of celebrate they ended up picking up rubbish - last year, 13 bags-worth, and only because they ran out of bags. It's like throwing a rave in a cathedral, and they leave all their junk behind. *fumeseethegrowlhiss*