April Sunshine Brings...

Where did March go? It's the longest month of the year and yet it came and went this year without a single post. I guess that's ok. I heard from one of my three readers that it was getting to "baby centric." So to my brother I say, that's what happens when your cooking a person. It kind of consumes your thoughts.

Except, of course, when you try to enjoy a Spring afternoon filled with sunshine and a refreshing breeze. I laced up my Asics and headed outside hoping my belly would allow more jogging than walking It seems to be touch and go these days. Some days I still feel like a runner. On other days, like yesterday, I feel like someone else has taken up residency in my body and prefers a slower pace. So, in the end, I was walking more than running which isn't so bad. It's actually kind of nice sometimes to slow down the pace and really think about how your muscles move with every step. And when you slow down, you tend to notice more - like the garbage. You see, today's rant is not about babies or the benefits of exercise and pregnancy. It's about slobs. Litter bugs. Trash enthusiasts.

We live next to a wildlife preserve. It's a big expanse of land left to the wilds of nature. It's particularly pretty now that a green hue blankets the area. In the distance, you can still see the sun shine through the branches but the green and yellow buds are just visible enough to spot the landscape with dots of freshness. But as you look closer to the trees and shrubs that hug the road, you see all sort of other colors: Styrofoam white, Dunkin' Donuts pink, Miller Lite blue. You can almost hear the leaves breathing a heavy sigh under the weight of dirty litter.

What's particularly troubling to me is, why? Why litter? At what point does the coffee cup become too much to bear? What goes through people's head? "Oh my God, I finished my Hazelnut latte at least five minutes ago and I'll be at my destination in another five minutes but good God, if I have to look at that mug for one more second, I'm going to lose it!" And out the window it goes. Where are people going that they are sure they won't come across an actual garbage can? At any shopping center they might be traveling to, there is bound to be at least one garbage can outside. I can almost guarantee with absolute certainty, there places of work have garbage cans. And if all else fails, whatever house they might be going to, whether theirs or a friends, I find it hard to believe there wouldn't be a garbage can where they could throw out there cup. So why? Why can't you wait that extra couple of miles to throw out your trash? Even if you are on a road trip, would it kill you to look at an empty coffee cup for a few hours?

Coffee cups and beer cans/bottles seem to be the worst offenders (according to my less than precise observations). The alcohol, I guess I can see better see why it might be more appealing to hurl the empties out the window as opposed to keeping them in your vehicle. First, there's the whole, it's kind of illegal to drink and drive. I'm sure there are some, but I would venture to guess, the majority of adults in the greater Bethel area, could wait until they arrive at their destination to start pounding beers. So I'm willing to bet the worst offenders here are the underage. I'm told there's not much else for kids to do around here. No teenager wants to be caught by the police or there parents with empty beer cans in their cars but again, why can't you just either wait until you reach your destination to start drinking or pull over and use public trash cans?

They recently (like last week, I think) found a new massive, swirling, pile of garbage in the middle of the Atlantic. They had already found one in the Pacific and hoped that was it. Now they are thinking, there must be more floating piles of trash. We're eventually going to be consumed by our waste. So next time your driving and your blood pressure is rising with every sideways glance at your empty coffee cup, remember; even if it's not your neighborhood, or city, or state, eventually it all becomes your country, your ocean, your world so why not help each other out and at least put your non-biodegradable Styrofoam cup in the garbage where it can go to a landfill and sit for all eternity?