Pick Up Your Sh*t

When I was a kid, there was a commercial that showed an American Indian man looking over the land, littered with garbage, while a tear rolled down his cheek. That hit a chord in me and I have been an avid non-litterer since. I HATE HATE HATE people who litter. I think that it shows a person's true character... a feeling of being better than everyone else, of indifference to the world or people around them, of taking for granted the people who have to clean up after them. Disgusting.

And in New York, there is a trash bin on every corner. If you can't hold that candy wrapper or tissue or paper plate for one block, you are lazy, to boot. I don't know what would be appropriate punishment for litterers, other than making them live in a world with no garbage pails, no sanitation workers, no streetsweepers. Let them experience what life would be like if they weren't so priviledged to be able to toss their debris wherever and whenever they want.

On a related note, if you are a pet-owner in the city, it is YOUR JOB to clean up after them. Your rotties giant pile of poo is not welcome on my block. You do not deserve a dog if you consider pooper-scoopering to be beneath you. I don't even want to tell you what kind of punishment I have in mind for you.

(I think it's getting close to the time when I go live in a shack by myself in the middle of nowhere, away from the human beings that make me crazy. A nice, neat, quiet little shack...)