Creation of positive mental attitudes that any trash anywhere
is every ones business.
In international travels I have observed some rich well-developed areas being
unkempt and littered while others were nice and spotless. I found it interesting
to discover the same characteristics is poverty-ridden areas where some were
incredibly bad and others outstandingly pleasant.
It became apparent that being affluent or distressed living
had little to do with litter.
I started to try and notice why some areas seemed to care about appearance
while other
locations were indifferent to trash and debris.
The first thing I discovered was that clean areas I visited
all seemed to have an automatic 'Pick-Up' program
because you could not find trash to pick up. I
watched and found that teenagers walking along would notice a small piece of
litter and
automatically stop and pick it up. There was never a chance for any noticeable
trash to accumulate. It became apparent that the debris was picked up just
because it was there, and not for any other reason.
I visited Turkey and although the country was poor it was clean.
I observed a grade school playground full of children. A
teacher appeared a door and rang
a bell apparently for the recess period to end. Every child on that playground
stopped and started looking for trash because the teacher held a bucket in
her
hand and it became apparent that every child had to have some litter to place
in the bucket to get back in the school. I saw some kids 'Pick-Up' leaves to
place in the bucket as all the litter had disappeared instantly.
When I was in Equator I was astonished to discover a poverty-ridden
country that was spotless. I watched young adults gathering
in parks and open-air eateries.
They all placed their trash in receptacles. But what was noteworthy was when
a piece of paper or cup fell unnoticed on the ground it would only take about
five minutes before some other teen would notice it and automatically 'Pick-Up' the
trash and place it in a container. They did this without caring who dropped
it or why it was dropped, they merely 'Pick-Up' the errant trash and deposited
it in
a receptacle.
I have visited both the east & west coast of Mexico along with visits to
Mexico City and the lower interior. I became convinced that Mexico was awash
in an incurable ocean of debris. I had vowed to never return to any part of
the country and was totally surprised when a friend at West Oso High School
say
that he
had
visitor
from
Mexico commenting on the visible trash surrounding our schools. He said that
where he was from, north of Mexico City, the children cleaned the schools because
there were no janitors. I was skeptical so I went to visit San Miguel de Alende & Quanajuato.
I discovered poor yet clean communities in the middle of Mexico. I saw the
same activity I had observed in other depressed though clean countries, teenagers
would 'Pick-Up' trash. I saw a husband taking his wife to
the airport in Leon. The father walked the wife towards the terminal building
leaving their
son
in the
backseat of the car. The boy looked out of the back window and saw a melting
ice cream cone on the sidewalk about 15 feet away. He got out of the
car, 'Picked-Up' the melting ice cream cone and walked another 18 feet to a
trash container where he deposited the errant cone. He returned to the car,
got in
the back seat and his parents never noticed what he had done. I had the feeling
that if they had noticed him they would not have commented because he was doing
what was expected.
This is the attitude I feel we have the ability to instill
in the children of this country.
If we can get everyone to automatically 'Pick-Up' a small
piece of trash, the trash will disappear. The key to the activity
I
noticed
was
that every clean
location
saw had young people 'Pick-Up' up trash because it was there,
and not because someone told them to 'Pick-Up' litter or offered
a reward for picking it up.
It is the
continuous 'Pick-Up' activity that makes it impossible for
debris & litter
to accumulate.
.
~Dusty Durrill
