Broad Street Blitz

I found myself outside, walking, for the first time last year after having my gal bladder removed. I was en route to meet Jessie downtown, and a mile walk was good for my rehabbing body. Chances are, I was looped on a painkiller at the time, and these suspicions were justified with the forthcoming list's presence on the back of an oxycodone description sheet.

• hanger
• blue solo cup
• dog poop
• cigarette butt
• 7-11 coffee cup
• pen (empty)
• plastic clothing tag
• cigarette butt
• Full Throttle can (crushed)
• Coors Light can (smashed)
• plastic bottle safety seal

The question I posed to my medicated self was: "What's the problem: No trash cans or no self control?

What you mention, Willbergh, outside your store window is alarming, and I laughed when I read about the McDonald's bag because I just saw one today, full, in Monmouth's parking lot and used similar references in a letter a few months ago: Sanity Amidst Ignorance. I don't know what the answer is either, but there's a few things we've discussed that speak to the cause.

1. There's an obvious disconnect between humans and the environment. For the most part, this isn't the 1980s and Billy Joel's not lamenting about syringes in the ocean. I actually remember being banned from some beaches because of polution, and it was unfortunate that it took something that severe or alarming to alert people to the situation. But people did actually see what happened when we were careless.
2. There's certainly a lack of responsiblity. The only people you see picking up trash have orange jump suits. We're very much a culture that throws its hands to the air and plays the role of Bart as the I Didn't Do It Boy. It's always somebody else's problem.
3. There's not enough time to be responsible. People have way too many other things going on to be globally responsible, and many times it's more time efficient to be sloppy. I need look no farther than the clothes pile next to my bed to illustrate that.
4. And the saddest thing ... it's not our problem. Like I said yesterday, it's going to be our girls' problem, if not their kids or their kids. We definitely define our as "people who live from now until I'm dead." There is very little thought toward our ancestors, and it's a shame considering the high regard with which we hold our Founding Fathers. We believe they made decisions and sacrifices for us, meaning you and me and everybody (alive NOW).

Maybe that's it. Maybe we need to believe that we are the new Founding Fathers!