Pigs and Butts

So Saturday morning found me picking up trash around the Music City Mall here in Odessa (Don't ask me why it's called 'Music City', 'cause we aren't....). Grace Point has adopted that spot of Odessa (the perimeter roads of it) to keep clean. Saturday was a 'Keep Odessa Beautiful' day, where groups cleaned all over the city. So we used that day to do 3 projects, and I was the 'supervisor' for the adopt-a-spot. We got a good little group together, spread out, and picked up trash. I couldn't believe all the little pieces of trash I was having to pick up. There were also very wierd things (one teen found a water bottle with vomit in it - how that occurred I DON'T want to know), unmentionables, and plenty of cigarette butts. The thought hit me - some people are such pigs; but then I thought how unsurprised I actually was about the trash. We EXPECT people to be pigs. We EXPECT that people are going to roll down their windows and throw all sorts of things into the wind to land wherever. Why do we continue to accept this or at least become callous to it? How hard would it be to throw that trash in a can? Even to take it home and throw it away would just take a little effort. Are we really so lazy that we could care less about what our community looks like? It made me kinda sad. The number of butts I picked up was astounding! A couple of areas was where water had washed through and formed a dam of sorts made up of dead grass, pine needles, and cigarette butts. It was pretty gross. But I picked it up with my gloved hands and shoved it in the trash bag. Did I get all of them. Not even close. But I do feel a litttle better about that area of town. And I was glad to have participated in something that made me aware of how trashy we allow ourselves to be. I for one am going to throw my trash in a trash can. If I am to be a pig, I'll do it with food. And then I'll have to butt to prove it.