Other people's trash

Anti-littering is in our control and as educated civilians we need to practice it.

Narmeen Tariq November 30, 2010
A few weeks ago, my friends and I went out for a drive and decided to grab a bite on the way. When we were done eating our food, one of my friends rolled down his window and chucked the wrapper out. I was in utter shock.

When I asked him why he did it he seemed very calm, as though he had done nothing wrong. He replied saying “What did I do?” I asked him why he would throw the wrapper on the road. He replied saying “Everyone does it, there’s no harm in doing it.”

I couldn’t believe the words he had uttered and couldn’t believe that an educated person who has studied from a prestigious foreign university could say something like that.

Much to our misfortune, he’s not the only one who thinks like this. It’s sad to see so many educated people of all ages who travel in expensive cars following the same behaviour. These are the same people who dare not litter abroad but take full advantage of the fact that there’s no one to stop them in their own country and pretend as if they’re merely abiding by the “norm”.

It’s sad to see that that people who litter in their country have no sense of responsibility and ethics. Pakistan may not be the ideal country to live in these days, but that doesn’t mean we add to the deplorable situation by dumping our share as well.

We love to criticise everything about our country but tend to forget that some things are in our control. Anti-littering is something each of us can contribute towards on an individual basis and make a collective impact.

We often ask ourselves when the circumstances of our country will change. The truth is that unless we don’t make an effort, we shouldn’t expect any change. We need to start somewhere.
WRITTEN BY:
Narmeen Tariq A SZABIST graduate who studied Media Sciences. The author is working as a sub-editor for T2 Extra, the Sunday pages of The Express Tribune.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (28)

Deen Sheikh | 13 years ago | Reply And the prize for the most judgmental person here goes too........ Wait no prizes for guessing Lol
Saima | 13 years ago | Reply The person showed condescension to the author for her views, the feeling was reciprocated towards him by the other commentators. I think that's fair. And if this isn't the kind of thing you can use to judge a man's character, what is? I do and will continue to judge people who litter. When they do so, they look ignorant and it disgusts me just as much as it does to see people smoking. Better to judge them over their actions than to judge them based on their looks and bank accounts.
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