Litterbugs

There is something so incredibly infuriating about people who throw garbage on the ground. To have to gall- the arrogance- the complete disrespect for your community and community members to simply drop trash while you walk down the street... I'm already getting worked up.

I have confronted two strangers for doing this.

A few years ago, I was walking behind a couple and the man was unwrapping a cigarette pack and letting the plastic fall to the ground as he went. At first, I thought it was an accident and resolved to just pick up the pieces myself. When the few innocent scraps of plastic turned into a veritable bread crumb trail of miscreant behavior, I realized I was just cleaning up after some barbaric malefactor.

When I had gathered all of the dropped packaging, I caught up to this guy and his companion. My earlier naivety put me in a bitter mood but also provided the outline for my confrontation. I pasted a big, sweet, dumb smile on my face and said politely, "Excuse me sir, you seem to have accidentally dropped this trash" while holding up the garbage for him to take.

He look in surprise and eyed me carefully. I just kept smiling and holding the plastic up. He finally concluded that I was harassing him- which I was- and smugly replied "no thank you" to my offering. Undeterred, I assured him, ever so sweetly, that this was in fact his garbage and that I had picked it up for him.

He continued to smirk, refusing to take the trash. I continued to hold up the trash, refusing to look away from this cretin. After a few awkward moments, his girlfriend/partner/sister/whomever, apologized kindly, promised to throw it away, and took the trash from my hand. Situation diffused, I gave up and walked away.

Was my reaction passive-aggressive? Absolutely. Did this guy probably laugh me off as soon as I walked away? Most definitely. Regardless, I felt good about my confrontation skills. I was new to DC and it was an awful feeling seeing someone treat my new community with such flagrant disregard.

Which brings me to this past Sunday. The weather was warm and the red brick sidewalks of my neighborhood were bustling with strollers, dogs, and joggers. I was among them, listening to my March playlist, and marveling at the mercurial nature of DC weather (it was 70s that day and I am writing this during a snow storm*). I found myself once again behind a couple.

And once again, the guy just starts dropping his cigarette trash while he walks.

This time, I had no illusions that this was an accident. He had clearly ducked to the side, behind his companion's back, and littered. Shocked and outraged, I instantly dismissed the idea of ignoring his crime and set upon a course of action. I'm not the Katie of two years ago. I'm the jaded, cynical Katie that crawled her way out of 2017. I don't have the humor for passive-aggressive stand-offs that will make for a good anecdote later. I certainly don't have the patience to be anything but direct.

I caught up to him and his walking partner and said, "Excuse me. Please don't throw your trash on the ground. It's incredibly disrespectful to your community and to those of us who live in it." My tone conveyed the disappointment, annoyance, and exhaustion I felt at having to explain such a basic concept to a full-grown man- without laying it on too thick.

And once again, the automatic defensive maneuver of the weak-minded reared its ugly head. He smirked condescendingly and said "okay."

To my great displeasure, once again, the female companion apologized for him, took the trash out of my hand, and promised to throw it away. My only solace was that this time, the woman seemed surprised.

Ladies, please stop apologizing for your men. It is not you who chose to carelessly desecrate a beautiful sunny day (and subsequently my stroll) with ugly behavior. It is not you who reacted with sarcastic dismissal when being called out for your misdeeds. Thus, it is not your mess to clean up and certainly not your apology to give.

On a side note, you should also ditch those jerks, but I suppose that's your business.

I could go on and on about why littering is bad and rude but I would likely be preaching to the choir. Besides the fact that it's a widely-accepted, basic pillar of human decency drilled into our culture since birth, about 20% of my audience is my own mother, of whom I have distinct memories scolding random teenagers in a Six Flags parking lot for ditching their McDonald's trash on the ground.

Sometimes, you just have to make it your business to hold people accountable.







Post Script Note: Someone asked the question on /r/askreddit "What are some ethical life choices we should all be making?" and the top response was about all doing our parts to keep our forests and beaches clean. The top comment on this response was worth sharing here:

"Sebastian Junger (the guy who wrote A Perfect Storm) had a great bit on littering in his book Tribe. He says littering is the epitome of the idea that you aren't a part of your community because it's the distillation of your own idea that no one and nothing else matters more than the tiniest inconvenience you might have."



*It's been a couple weeks since I wrote this. You'll be happy to hear it is once again high 70s.