Just Say No

Remember the D.A.R.E. program Nancy Reagan launched "Just Say No To Drugs"?! I have a new one (which has already been promoted, but I seek to catalyze) which is "Just Say No To Littering"!!! I'll never forget the sad, yet ironically hilarious detrimental act I once saw related to littering. It was a nice summer day in Cincinnati, OH and I was enjoying my day driving to my destination. I saw a 'litter patrol' car driving about five cars in front of me at the same stop light. When the light turned green, this 'litter patrol's' driver window rolled down. What do I see flying out of the window?! A McDonald's cup!!! IRONY! A litter patrol worker, in a litter patrol car, in broad daylight, LITTERING!!! Wow! I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or get the cup, get the license number, and call on this driving conundrum!

What iinspired me to remember this incident was today, while driving through the melting snow, and admiring the ice covered trees reflecting sunlight, thinking, "Wow, in light of the horrendous snow and ice storm we had, and all the economic challenges, and how our environment is being contaminated with so much, there is still beauty out there,... thank you nature", then, "BAM"! Here we go, five cars in front of me, not a litter patrol car, but yet again, another remarkably talented McDonald's cup that knows how to fly! Wow, how ever could these cups be so talented, and just fly across the highway as they do?! Then I see the perpetrator of my nature enjoying moment in the City environment and melting snow, a low to mid twenty year old male, that just couldn't possibly wait to throw the cup away in a recycling bin, or any garbage disposal type container for that matter, and had to share his empty cup with the rest of us, so kind.

"Spread Love, Not Litter!"
Perhaps my non-profit, heartprints inc., should launch the, "Spread Love, Not Litter" Campaign?! I believe we are what we leave behind in this world. We can go around spreading positive energy, and it's not realistic to be perfectly happy constantly, and it's not human to not make a mistake while roaming this planet. Our baggage, what we bring to the table, share, communicate, and how we act towards others and our environment is essentially (not to get extreme) what we leave behind, and how we're remembered. Granted, this guy and his cup, won't make the news, he wasn't on camera, the only one who's littered, nor the last. I seek to motivate you to make a connotation between littering and our legacy. 'Garbage' doesn't have to only consist of material items, as I also see 'littering of human spirit' through road rage, speeding, cutting people off, and other negative actions. Clean up your act!!! Slow down, let someone get over into another lane, have manners, slow down in snow/rain/ice, wave kindly to someone (not the middle finger) when someone is kind to you, etc.! What we leave behind can either be 'garbage', or we can leave things better than we found them. If it's a McDonald's cup, or the countless other items I have seen scattered along the highway from mysterious garbage bags, couches, napkins, etc. or even the notoriously repetitive McDonald's cups I see laying everywhere (who is the demographic, persons, and audience that not only visits McDonald's, but feels they have the right to just throw their garbage anywhere they want, and make their garbage an extension of them by sharing it with us and our environment (thanks!)?... don't they know it's all recyclable now as well?! Geesh!). I don't want to solely pick on McDonald's, their patrons, give them a bad image for their consumers actions, or elude to the fact that the only litter I see is McDonald's cups, as there are many other culprits, debris, and garbage out there!

There are more important issues, but find they are all important and relevant on their own levels. The cliche, "What if everyone jumped off a cliff, would you?" can be old school and extreme, but "What if everyone took a piece of garbage and threw it out their window", or better yet, "What if everyone walked outside, found a piece of garbage, or something that needed confronted, talked about, or action/attention needed towards it, and picked it up/fixed it/helped out in some way?!". What if, what if... litterbugs didn't bother me so much?!

Just say not to litterbugs, and contaminating our Earth in the endless side effects and ways you do... What are you leaving behind?