Trash

As a small child, I went to a rodeo with my family. We sat in the bleachers, eating food as we watched. I ended up with a lap full of empty food containers, wrappers, and napkins. Looking around, I noticed that other spectators dropped their garbage down by their feet, where they kicked it to fall underneath. Innocently following their example, I shoved my garbage under the bleachers in the same way. When my father noticed what I was doing, he quickly intervened and taught me a lesson I've never forgotten. 

Dad kindly told me that my action was called "littering," and it was wrong. He explained that we need to clean up our area, collect our trash, and discard it in the garbage can. Then he took me down below the bleachers to see all the waste that had accumulated. Together, we cleaned up the area under the bleachers. As we picked up refuse and deposited it in the right place, he didn't just teach me by words.  He taught by example.

Today I was appalled as I walked along the sidewalk in the aftermath of the Independence Day parade. Some viewing areas were left so trashy. Wrappers, empty water bottles, flyers, and other debris was scattered everywhere, but concentrated in some areas more than  others. Certain families had been sitting in the area and obviously chose not to bring their garbage with them. Littering is a crime, but it also reflects something about a person. 

Another place I consistently notice this phenomenon is at the movie theater. After any movie you can look around as you leave and you will see piles of garbage left behind. I'm not sure how people justify it. It is not a hard thing to pick up your trash and drop it in the can as you walk out. It is a simple act of citizenship, decency, and self respect to leave a place at least as clean as you found it. 

Why don't more adults take the initiative to clean up after themselves and teach children to  do the same?

Thank you, Dad.