Courtesy or common sense?

Hi there, loyal reader(s), it's been awhile since I've ranted, since I've had time to complain about things. Truthfully, I've also had a lack of things about which to complain, so now that I have something, it is all too apparent.

I hate litter. It sounds like such a small complaint, but really, it's more infuriating to me because it's such a small and simple matter and shouldn't even exist. My close friends and family know that this is one of my more vocal complaints. I've ranted about it for years, and I always pick it up litter if I can. Every little bit counts, and I try to live in such a way as to improve upon myself and the world around me.

I don't even understand the concept of deliberate littering. Whenever I have some food or drink in a disposable container, I am always aware of it. In general, I worry that I'll spill it, or I'm so hungry and thirsty that I constantly am sampling from it, or at parties, I keep a close eye, not wanting anyone else to tamper with it.

When I'm done, it's never an option for me to just leave it sitting on the table, or counter. I was raised to leave things as they were, or make them better, and litter is such a useless thing that the very idea of it sitting, unattended, because someone was too lazy to dispose of it properly, well, it's actually making me mad right now. I haven't been to that many places in my life, but generally garbage and recycling bins are close enough that you don't have to go far to dispose of your trash. In fact, I once heard a rumour that at Walt Disney World, the trash cans are situated to be no more than 15 metres apart in any direction as that is the maximum average distance a person will hold onto it before throwing it on the ground.

Throwing it on the ground? What is wrong with you? If you throw garbage on the ground, you have no right to complain if I came over and littered on your floor. Of course, you'll never have cause for that complaint because littering is something I will NEVER do.

I understand that sometimes your hands are full. Sometimes, you just forgot your stuff on the table, but deliberately leaving your mess either because you don't care or because you expect someone else to clean it up, that's just wrong and I will not stand for it.

Yes, there are so many bigger and more important problems out there. But, littering is a symptom of a much larger "disease"; that of apathy and disconnection. If you litter, it says more to me than you're lazy. It says you are either not aware of your effect on the world, you don't care about it or the world around you, or you think that you are better than others and entitled to treat their share of the planet like garbage.

So, please, don't litter. If you see someone litter, ask them why and make them throw it out properly. It's one of those "issues" that shouldn't exist because it's so easy to dispose of. And, if you are a litterer, don't be too surprised if you see a man in a cape moving toward you at high speed.

Thanks for reading.