This week I was annoyed by some of the little inconsiderate things I saw just doing everyday things in life. For example, boarding a train I sat down and spent the trip watching an empty bottle of Gatorade rolling up and down the main aisle (up when the train slowed down to stop, and down when we departed the station again). What types of neanderthals do we share a train with, who can’t carry an empty bottle a few feet to the nearest disposal point?
I have always wondered about the “useful to gross” ratio which seems to be extremely short for some people. The moment a container is emptied of its contents, it seems some people can’t wait to simply drop the item to the ground as if it had gained cooties, even if a trashcan is inches away.
Somebody threw a bag filled with uneaten leftover food into a recycle container at the office, and due to the humidity, it was attracting flying insects. The maintenance crew had to empty that mess later on, and the recyclers who would have sorted out the bottles and cans get bogged down by such thoughtless actions. The issue is that a regular trash container sits at each desk in the building, and there is a pantry for more trash disposal. There was no excuse.
Maybe some people think that, when they’re grown men and women, it’s okay to just not care.
The problem with not caring is that, eventually, nothing is left to care about. Taking the easy, lazy way out does not keep this world nice enough for people in which to be lazy. In one of the Star Trek movies, the ever-logical Mr. Spock brought up the fact that it is always easier to destroy than to create. Obviously some folks never learned that. They hawk and spit, drop their napkins and cheeseburger wrappers anyplace they choose, and smile when they say they are free people. Free is not irresponsible. Freedom is a privilege earned by setting good examples. We may be Americans, but we’re still responsible for the land we live in. If we don’t keep it neat, no other country will come in and sweep up after us like they’re our parents and we’re six-year-old brats.
That is a problem with us: we don’t have the discipline we used to.
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