Friday, November 02, 2007

White Trash

Dear New True,
Recently I have been letting my foolish young puppy run free in the seasonally-empty hockey rink, where she is safe from wolves, bears and other predators.
Every day when I arrive I find more "white trash." I call it white because the people who dump it are 99 percent white. Yucky cigarette butts by the dozen; where did smokers get the idea they could throw their ugly filter butts that don't break down like organic waste? Not to mention pencils, legos, broken glass, plastic bottles and tin cans, gum and candy and cake wrappers.... Most of this trash could be recycled and none of it is biodegradable. What culprits does that sound like to you?
My guess is, kids partying at night. Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods?
I've seen lots of other evidence that kids see the whole county as their personal trash can. On my private road, for instance, I find beer and pop cans, food wrappers and broken bottles. I even found the remains of a campfire during the fire ban this summer. Or just look at the road ditches. One day I saw a kid snowmobiling down Broadway who tossed a liter-sized plastic pop bottle on the sidewalk.
What is the deal here? Were these brats brought up in a barn? Where are their parents, or did they learn these bad habits from same?
Cook County sells beauty to tourists. Anybody who destroys that beauty deserves to be called to account. Community service is what I suggest, because the parents won't be able to do that for them. I would assign them the job of cleaning up all the white trash after school so at least they wouldn't have time to throw out more.
As for me, I pick up after myself and my dog but not the white trash folks. That just "enables" their bad behavior.
Yours truly,
Pooper Scooper

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that everyone should pick up their trash but not with your opinion that you should just leave it there to "teach 'em a lesson."

Why not be pan-determined about it and exercise some responsibility yourself other than simply complain about the situation?

Pointing the finger is not the answer. Why not consider organizing a clean-up campaign or minimally do something educational other than complain.

You could "set a good example." That would help the kids, and the community. THAT would be a win-win situation.

Anonymous said...

Dear anon,
Individual actions and behavior have to have consequences, not pep rallies where others like the Girl Scouts clean up after the trashies. In fact that just reinforces the bad behavior of the minority of kids who don't have respect for others or for nature.
We are not talking about drinking, smoking cigarettes or even a little weed here. Those actions have consequences if the kids are caught even though they don't harm anybody.
But littering and burning fires during a ban are crimes and can cause harm with permanent consequences to the environment.
I don't know about you, but if I caught the little buggers defacing or endangering my property I would tan their hides.
Pooper Scooper

backwooodsnellie said...

Dear Pooper Scooper,
I have a dear friend who takes her grandchildren, ages 10 & 12, to various parks, trails, etc to pick up trash. When the kids discovered that she usually comes back from a walk with a bag of other peoples' trash they asked if they could go with her to help clean up after the slobs that have no respect for their environment. They enjoy the activity and are learning a great lesson in the process.
There will always be people that have no respect for the world around them, they just don't care, so we either need to clean up after them or be disgusted by the mess.
I too am a committed pooper scooper picker upper of other peoples' trash.