Gum on the Bottom of My Shoe

Stopping at a rest area on our recent trip out east, we exit the car to take a much needed break. My path only included a grass berm and a cement sidewalk in order to reach the building about 40 yards away. Upon entering the building, I quickly noticed the stickiness on the bottom of my shoe.  I examined the sole only to find a big blue wad of displaced chewing gum. Seriously? Is it so hard to heed the call of Woodsy Owl to “give a hoot, don’t pollute” or the Keep America Beautiful slogan “put litter in its place”? The funny thing is that there were ten, yes 10, garbage receptacles in the vicinity making it completely convenient to properly dispose of any trash one may have had.

One of my biggest eco-pet-peeves is LITTER. I’m referring to the deliberate act of intentionally, consciously disposing of your trash on someone’s else property…worse yet, littering on public lands…those areas that belong collectively to all of us.

To all the litter bugs out there, I pose this question: would you deliberately throw used gum, a cigarette butt, a pop can, a candy wrapper or a water bottle on your own property? My guess is that your answer is an emphatic “No”. Why is it that some people feel it is okay to intentionally drop their trash on the ground? And who is expected to clean up after them?

Let’s chew on this: gum on the bottom of a shoe is aways a sticky situation but in time, it can be removed. Littering, on the other hand, is a disgraceful, disrespectful act that reflects in the same manner on the bugs that do it and results in a reputation that is not so easily unstuck.