Season of Giving - Earth Pigs

Like many people, I enjoy giving; but like some, I find it uncomfortable receiving. The discomfort for me has always been tied to inherent introversion as well as embarrassment linked to impoverishment in my youth. Now, as an aging adult, I am a little better except when it comes to the gifts (namely the trash thrown from vehicles) discarded by the people who travel the roads adjoining my property. However, as I am out and about, it is obvious that the problem is not mine alone. Many others also are receiving gifts. I cannot attest to the gifting being greater this time of year (the season of giving), but it certainly is more noticeable.

I can only imagine how these litter bugs (earth pigs, as I prefer calling them) got to be so--that is, sloven and disrespectful. Civically irresponsible individuals who nonchalantly pitch trash from their vehicle rather than simply waiting to get home or to a public option and, once there, disposing of it properly. Or, maybe that is the way their home and property looks--a dump and thus befitting an earth pig. It is directly tied to upbringing, and my mother did not raise me that way. One word--PRIDE. One can be poor and prideful.

Not to worry earth pigs, I pick up your trash. I appropriately dispose of it, with about half going to the local recycling depot. Every year the total from my property amounts to more than a pickup truck bed full, and the items discarded offer a clear anthropological profile of the offenders. Certainly, part of the problem stems from our hyperactive consumerism and the associated containers intended for one use and then pitched, literally. The problem is definitely cultural and correctable. 'Tis the season for giving--but as regards the litter, no thank you. Let's work together better to make and keep our communities cleaner--less like a common dump. Please.