To the Editor,
Where do you live? Do you think of that place as a small contained area, or does it include the shared community space; the spaces that you exist in outside of your home? The key word here is “shared”, and when you’re there everything you do impacts everybody else who uses that space. Can we agree on that? That is what’s called community.
Most days I count myself lucky to live in Vankleek Hill, especially when my dog and I walk the length of Newton Road between Main Street and Aberdeen Road. It’s a beautiful walk. But, as I take in the views of the fields as the crops grow, the geese as they fulfill their migratory urges, and the changing landscape from white and frozen to lush and green, I see garbage. More and more garbage. Not just accidental, or idly tossed pieces of trash, but deliberately tossed with intent. I can’t actually imagine the level of selfishness and disregard that goes through the instigator’s mind when they throw out a set of used tires, toss a broken stereo out the window, or habitually deposit the empty bottles of their favorite alcohol, along what is essentially my backyard, and yours.
Along Newton Road you find beer cans, water bottles, fast food packaging, containers from cannabis products, vape pens, cigarette packages, endless Tim’s coffee cups, and the most disturbing are the mickey sized bottles from clear liquor: vodka, gin, and white rum. Three years ago I picked up 60 of those empties. This year I found 51. Somebody clearly has a problem. And they drink and drive. A few weeks ago I reached a critical point where I’d had enough so I decided to spend a couple hours picking up the trash. Well, that turned into three afternoons. Five bags, plus tires, paint cans, household appliances, and the liquor bottles. When I returned two days later there were already a dozen beer cans. Now it seems I can’t go for a walk without seeing more litter, and I pick it up.
It takes as much effort to throw that bottle out the window as it does to take it home and put it in the household trash. Littering is truly a selfish disregard for, and a crime against, everybody else. I once had a friend, many decades ago, who, when seeing somebody drop trash, would pick it up and chase after the person, tap them on the shoulder, and say, “Excuse me, you dropped this?” The look of shock and confusion was priceless. They were caught being a “bad person”. It was a courageous gesture on my friend’s part, and somewhat crazy, but absolutely right. Please, don’t be a “bad person”.
Randall Anderson
