Today whilst riding the bus to school, I observed a man executing deplorable behavior. I looked over to see him unwrapping a Hershey's Kiss chocolate candy. "Oh, that's nice," I thought, "A little pre-class sugar boost to help him through the pursuit of knowledge." Then he crumpled the tin wrapper into a little ball (along with the 97.6% of Americans who do the same when they enjoy a Hershey's Kiss) and threw it on the ground with complete disregard for his surroundings. He threw it as if it was a piece of corn husk being tossed into the compost. I looked at him with disgust but he looked forward completely oblivious to the fact that someone had seen his egregious act. As I was giving him the stink eye he pulled another one out of his pocket, unwrapped it, placed the morsel in his mouth, crumpled the tinfoil, and discarded his waste right on to the bus floor. He is blatantly littering right before my eyes. I can not believe that there are people in this world with such wanton disregard for their environment. I'm sure this person has thrown many sausage mcmuffin wrappers to the ground after he enjoyed a nice heavy breakfast. I'm sure the roads are littered with his receipts. I'm sure his house is perfectly clean.
What makes a person so unaware of their impact on their environment? What gives them the amount of entitlement it takes to be so utterly selfish as to make them think that they can just throw waste wherever they want? Did you know that early humans (homo erectus) had certain areas of their caves for animal wastes and broken tools and such? This person on the bus was exhibiting features of life not akin to humans, but more akin to a hyena who picks off what he wants and then moves on, leaving the remains for others to deal with.
How can anyone not be self conscious about littering? I mean if you drop something while you are walking and it blows far away and you are unable to retrieve it, that is one thing, but if you willfully and consciously throw a piece of trash onto the ground, you are making up your mind to do something completely anti-social. The pre-conceived act of littering is the first step to pre-conceived murder. You know littering is bad (or do you?), you know it will just hang out on the earth, cluttering our waterways and fields (no, maybe you don't. I think you are full of complete ignorance), you know stabbing someone in the throat is not very nice (I think), yet you choose to ignore the consequences. Perhaps an exaggeration, yes, but, I don't think by too large a degree. You have to admit there are some narcissistic, ant-social, mass murderer type traits being exhibited here. Most individuals with even the slightest regard for their surroundings see littering as the nuisance it is. Even children know not to litter.
Toblog's photo is something that brings me joy in times of extreme frustration with the world. I love the desert. I love summer.
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