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Aghast at all the trash
By ALEX ZIMMET
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 22, 2002
I recently was assigned to do a community service project for one of my classes at Cypress Woods Elementary School in Palm Harbor. I decided to pick up trash along a stretch of road near where I live. I'd like to tell you how it made me feel.
It made me feel gross.
I had to put my hands on trash that people I don't know had their mouths and hands on . . . bottles, cigarette boxes, fast food wrappers. Plus, the trash was covered in dirt and some of it was even crawling with bugs. Sure, I had gloves on, but it was still disgusting! I resented picking up stuff other people should have put in a trash can in the first place.
I felt ashamed after I thought about what my mom had said. She noticed that much of the garbage was beer bottles and cigarette butts . . . things thrown into the street by people who are obviously old enough to know better. Well, there also were plenty of Slurpee cups and candy wrappers, which made me embarrassed to know that kids didn't think before they littered, either. I guess they're only doing what they see adults doing. Don't grownups realize how their actions teach a lesson louder than words?
I felt hopeless. Two days later I rode along the same road and it was all filled with trash again. Why did I bother in the first place? Is that the wrong way to feel?
Today is Earth Day. People use the occasion to focus on the environment, but that ought to happen every day. Think twice before you toss that gum wrapper or cola cup or cigarette butt anywhere but in a trash bin.
- Alex Zimmet, 10, is a former member of the Times' X-Team.
Here's the rest of today's Xpress
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