The Only One Who Cares

The problem was not how the empty bags, cups and scraps got onto the side of the road but how they stayed there. One bag. One cup. One wrapper. One can. It is nothing they say. Throwing one thing on the ground is nothing. But imagine every single person doing this. Every singe person throwing one thing on the ground. These one things will lead to many. This is what I keep telling people but no one is listening.

“Okay Jack I am going for my walk”.

I have been going for ‘my walk’ for a few years now and it is the same everyday. The only difference is that every day there is only one more thing to pick up on the way. Lining up on the road in front of me is the evergreen trees standing tall, the light posts shining bright and the long grey footpath that never ends. It’s hard to appreciate all the wonderful things in my neighbourhood when you look down and all you see is rubbish. As I stroll along, I pick up the cups, the scraps, the wrappers and so on. I got the streets around my block looking pretty good, and it improved my everyday walks. It just looked nicer, so I was happy. I felt like the only person trying to make a difference about littering in my community…no one else seemed to care.

“Your back, how was your walk today Megan?” Jack mumbled with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

“Just the usual Jack. Why don’t you come with me one day?” I replied. Jack laughed hysterically and walked away. He came back five minutes later and said “Ill come with you if you get over your obsession with picking up scraps and just walk around the block like a normal person”. My jaw dropped. I could not believe my own husband said that. I became very frustrated. “How can you expect me to walk around the block and step on rubbish? Have you seen the streets Jack, well you can’t, don’t you care?”.

He laughed and said, “To be honest no, our streets look fine, yeah there may be a few bottles, cans and bags lying around but that’s normal, everyone litters once in a while, its not a big deal”.

For the next couple of days my routine continued. I know no one understood why I did this but I understood and that’s all that mattered. I was walking along the footpath picking up litter, when I noticed a group of school children up ahead. As I got closer I realized that they were siting on the grass near the sidewalk giggling away. I walked past them minding my own business when one of them yelled out “Oh look there is that lady that picks up all the rubbish”. They all started laughing.

I kept on walking to realize they started to follow me. I turned around and there they were, walking behind me and purposely throwing candy wrappers and soft drink cans on the footpath. I could not believe what I was seeing. I kept on walking trying to disregard the behaviour of the children. To my amazement, five minutes later, a car drove past and whilst turning up ahead a lady with three children in the car put down her window, throwing two McDonalds paper bags on the road. I thought to myself, the immaturity and lack of understanding about littering is a disgrace in both children and adults. I want to do something about it. I want to make a change in my community.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, “Excuse me Miss,” a lady said.

“Yes?” I said hesitantly.

“I have been noticing what you are trying to do and I think it’s really good of you to show how much you care about your community”, she said with a big smile on her face.

“Oh really? Umm I don’t know what to say… thank you.”

“I am Melissa and this is my son David, we live just around the corner from here. I am a little embarrassed to say this but you have been the talk of the town”, she said as she looked away with hesitation.

“Don’t worry, I’m not surprised. People think I’m weird. They just don’t know how much harm they are doing to our community when they litter and I thought by picking up the rubbish I am making a difference…but obviously not,” I said with a sad tone in my voice.

“No, you are. I am going to help you. We need to show the children and even the adults of our community, how important it is not to litter”.

“Yes I agree, thank you”, I replied with excitement.

Later that evening, I spent all my time calling the local council and trying to tell them we had a problem with littering in our community. I even told them about the children and about the lady in the car but they did not care… they hung up on me. I was so disappointed. “Don’t worry Megan. What we are planning will blow everyone away, you wait and see,” Melissa reassured me.

We put up countless amounts of signs and posters , at every corner, at every bus stop … we even protested. I was starting to gain some hope.

***

The day had finally come. The day when the community all came together. Together we all roamed the streets and picked up every single piece of litter and learnt the importance of littering.

Even my husband… even those children.