I must confess revenge is on my mind. It would be just, and would send the right message.
After a rejuvenating, epic and completely exhausting hike up Mount Raymond with my friend Mansour, we arrived at our car at 7 pm, parked in the S-Curve parking lot up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I had run out of water coming down and retrieved the extra water from my car that I had brought. The hike was up a trail, Mill B North Fork, that few travel which wound its way past jagged cliffs, verdant forest and crystal clear water falls. It seemed a rare part of our mountains that was unspoiled and unmarred by trash and over use.
Standing at the side of my car as I gulped down the water, 3 attractive, barely post-pubescent females--two blonde Caucasians and an African American--soon to reveal themselves as stupid bimbos--drove into the lot in a sleek, shiny, new red Volvo Convertible. They strategically parked so they could enjoy the stunningly beautiful canyon as the sun was descending deep into the western sky. They were having a meal of pizza, bread sticks and soda. One of them casually threw some garbage out onto the ground next to them.
Every now and then I just can’t refrain from calling out peoples’ irresponsibility. So, I yelled, “Hey, you dropped something.” They tried to ignore me, but after several more suggestions that they pick it up, one of them eventually, without opening the door, jumped out and picked it up. Mission accomplished?
I’ve lived in Spain a year while enrolled in the University of Seville. I loved my experience there and the Spanish people and culture. One thing though really bugged me. Although everyone’s houses seemed to be spotless, it seemed that when out and about, most everyone always threw all their garbage on the ground. In fact their roadsides and open country were veritable junkyards.
Whenever, out, or in the county you had to watch your step and often hold your nose. When I’d be walking with my Spanish friends, they would often unwrap candy, popsicles or store items and throw their trash on the street, even if a garbage can was in throwing reach. I got fed up. So, in a very theatrical manner, emphatically telegraphing visually and orally my intentions and actions, I would litter. I would announce, “Gee, I have some garbage. What should I do? Hmmmm? I think I’ll throw it on the ground even though there is a garbage receptacle I am dangling this garbage over this very second.” Then I throw it on the ground. I did this several times with a few of my friends.
They scolded me. I asked them why they scolded me when I watched them do the same many times. There response was: “We can litter but since you’re an American from the U.S., you can’t. Besides, it gives work for the poor.” I asked, “wouldn’t you rather spend money on other things than having poor people pick up your garbage?” “What else would they do?” they asked. I explained that people will adjust to do whatever they need to and if your only aspiration for the poor was that they picked up your street garbage then that is what you would end up with–a country full of those that unnecessarily created garbage and those that cleaned it up. My friends in Spain did not thereafter litter, at least not that I knew about.
I also touted to them my home town’s cleanliness, that I had been taught to leave things better than I found them, and that we had pristine garbage-free forests and mountains. Sadly, today we too are becoming like my Spanish friends and leaving our canyons and roadsides a mess.
So, back to the three post pubescent females. At the end of their meal, the three started up their convertible, gunned it out of the parking lot and when they thought they were out of view, heaved all of their garbage onto the road. Such conduct outrages me because there is no excuse. I don’t want to pay people to pick up garbage. I want to pay for improvements in our infrastructure and other more important things, I don’t want a Utah that looks like the Spanish country side, full of rotting trash. Please, if this is what you, your friends, your family or your acquaintances do, don’t, and encourage those you know not to.
Furthermore, there couldn’t be too many new, red volvo convertibles in the Salt Lake Valley that these littering bimbos have access to. So, if you know these three, please introduce me, because I’d like bring my trash and throw it into their homes, because that is what Utah’s public lands are to me, they are my home, they are precious and I cherish them. Or, since I suspect if I had been some young male they wanted to impress, they would not have littered. If you are such a person, kindly tell them this behavior is inappropriate.
Otherwise the revenge of trashing their home would be just and sweet because they need to understand that our public lands are our legacy and heritage. There is simply no excuse for those who drive into our canyons to enjoy their beauty and who then trash them on their way out.
Loren M. Lambert © May 26, 2014
After a rejuvenating, epic and completely exhausting hike up Mount Raymond with my friend Mansour, we arrived at our car at 7 pm, parked in the S-Curve parking lot up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I had run out of water coming down and retrieved the extra water from my car that I had brought. The hike was up a trail, Mill B North Fork, that few travel which wound its way past jagged cliffs, verdant forest and crystal clear water falls. It seemed a rare part of our mountains that was unspoiled and unmarred by trash and over use.
Standing at the side of my car as I gulped down the water, 3 attractive, barely post-pubescent females--two blonde Caucasians and an African American--soon to reveal themselves as stupid bimbos--drove into the lot in a sleek, shiny, new red Volvo Convertible. They strategically parked so they could enjoy the stunningly beautiful canyon as the sun was descending deep into the western sky. They were having a meal of pizza, bread sticks and soda. One of them casually threw some garbage out onto the ground next to them.
Every now and then I just can’t refrain from calling out peoples’ irresponsibility. So, I yelled, “Hey, you dropped something.” They tried to ignore me, but after several more suggestions that they pick it up, one of them eventually, without opening the door, jumped out and picked it up. Mission accomplished?
I’ve lived in Spain a year while enrolled in the University of Seville. I loved my experience there and the Spanish people and culture. One thing though really bugged me. Although everyone’s houses seemed to be spotless, it seemed that when out and about, most everyone always threw all their garbage on the ground. In fact their roadsides and open country were veritable junkyards.
Whenever, out, or in the county you had to watch your step and often hold your nose. When I’d be walking with my Spanish friends, they would often unwrap candy, popsicles or store items and throw their trash on the street, even if a garbage can was in throwing reach. I got fed up. So, in a very theatrical manner, emphatically telegraphing visually and orally my intentions and actions, I would litter. I would announce, “Gee, I have some garbage. What should I do? Hmmmm? I think I’ll throw it on the ground even though there is a garbage receptacle I am dangling this garbage over this very second.” Then I throw it on the ground. I did this several times with a few of my friends.
They scolded me. I asked them why they scolded me when I watched them do the same many times. There response was: “We can litter but since you’re an American from the U.S., you can’t. Besides, it gives work for the poor.” I asked, “wouldn’t you rather spend money on other things than having poor people pick up your garbage?” “What else would they do?” they asked. I explained that people will adjust to do whatever they need to and if your only aspiration for the poor was that they picked up your street garbage then that is what you would end up with–a country full of those that unnecessarily created garbage and those that cleaned it up. My friends in Spain did not thereafter litter, at least not that I knew about.
I also touted to them my home town’s cleanliness, that I had been taught to leave things better than I found them, and that we had pristine garbage-free forests and mountains. Sadly, today we too are becoming like my Spanish friends and leaving our canyons and roadsides a mess.
So, back to the three post pubescent females. At the end of their meal, the three started up their convertible, gunned it out of the parking lot and when they thought they were out of view, heaved all of their garbage onto the road. Such conduct outrages me because there is no excuse. I don’t want to pay people to pick up garbage. I want to pay for improvements in our infrastructure and other more important things, I don’t want a Utah that looks like the Spanish country side, full of rotting trash. Please, if this is what you, your friends, your family or your acquaintances do, don’t, and encourage those you know not to.
Furthermore, there couldn’t be too many new, red volvo convertibles in the Salt Lake Valley that these littering bimbos have access to. So, if you know these three, please introduce me, because I’d like bring my trash and throw it into their homes, because that is what Utah’s public lands are to me, they are my home, they are precious and I cherish them. Or, since I suspect if I had been some young male they wanted to impress, they would not have littered. If you are such a person, kindly tell them this behavior is inappropriate.
Otherwise the revenge of trashing their home would be just and sweet because they need to understand that our public lands are our legacy and heritage. There is simply no excuse for those who drive into our canyons to enjoy their beauty and who then trash them on their way out.
Loren M. Lambert © May 26, 2014
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