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Oh no you don't
Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 05:44PM 
Litter? Us? Never, honey. Photo Jennifer Weber 2010Recently I was watching a portion of a television show that, until then, I had only heard of but never actually seen.
From what I understand, this program has enjoyed some success in recent years … as in, it has gained popularity among viewers.
My interest in the show (as I cruised by, thumb poised to channel-change on a whim), was limited to the fact that it is set in the early '60s, the decade in which I was a child.
In the scene I watched, a little nuclear family -- father, mother, brother, sister -- had apparently just enjoyed a picnic. They'd driven their 80-foot-long gas-guzzling luxury sedan to a park, laid out a tablecloth, and disgorged the contents of their basket and cooler.
Following lunch the father and mother lolled, smoking cigarettes, while brother and sister played a few yards away.
So far so good. With the exception of the obvious affluence of the family, I could relate.
All Similarities Must Come To An End
Soon it was time to go. Father called the kiddies; mother began gathering the belongings.
That's when it happened.
The father, finishing up a cold beverage from a glass bottle, lobbed the bottle away into the park. He didn't even try to hit a trashcan; indeed, no trashcans were in evidence.
The mother, meanwhile, had picked up all the stuff -- well, nearly all -- and handed the cooler off to her husband.
Picnic basket dangling from her arm, she reached down and grabbed two corners of the tablecloth, which was littered with food wrappings and other detritus of their meal.
Then, as casually as you or I might flick a fly from our sleeve, the mother lifted the tablecloth and shook it, allowing all of the trash to land on the ground.
She then turned and went to the car, placed the basket and cloth into the trunk, and the family drove away.
Ahem.
Excuse me?
Let's Go Back To School
Did you know that ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of all those who write, produce, act in, direct, and distribute movies and television shows are knee-jerk liberals?
Did you further know that as such, they consider it their mission in life to depict Americans in pre-Environmentalist (with the emphasis on mental) America as careless litterers and egregious abusers of the environment?
Even if it isn't true.
See, my family toured America when I was a kid. Coast to coast we traveled, many times camping under the stars. Suffice it to say, I've been on a heap of picnics.
And if my sister and I wanted to get a whipping -- which, believe me, we didn't -- all we had to do was fail to clean up and restore the campsite -- or whatever site -- where we had spent the night or ten nights or eaten a single meal, to a more pristine condition than we had found it.
Because if we left so much as a square inch of waxed paper on the ground, not to mention a Coke bottle or an empty bread wrapper, we were in big trouble.
It just wasn't done. Trashcans were provided … and we used them.
It had nothing to do with being environmentalists; we'd never heard of that.
It had to do with being responsible human beings.
More Anecdotal Evidence
But I only knew from my own experience, so I asked TG (who is five years older than me) what would have happened if, as a kid, he and his brother and sister had left litter on the ground after a picnic.
"HA HA!" he snorted, then answered, imitating my father-in-law at his most vigorous: "Greg! Ron! Ruth! Pick up that garbage right now and put it in the wastebasket!"
TG contended his six-foot-six dad would have barked the order and meant it.
And believe me, he would have been instantly obeyed.
Or else.
You're Being Played
I'm getting tired of Americans in my generation -- the last of the baby boomers, if you will -- being depicted on television and in movies as ignorant hicks who did nothing in the '50s and '60s but embrace vile bigotry, throw trash from our car windows, choke the rivers with hazardous materials, force victims of rape and incest to terminate pregnancies with rusty coathangers, and deliriously wave flags.
According to present-day liberals (of all ages), people at that time were so dumb that all the moms did was stay home and all the dads did was put the women in their place, and everyone was racist and homophobic and unsophisticated and narrow-minded and fatally moralistic and hopelessly patriotic and pathetically prone to attend church.
Just a bunch of chumps, is all we were. Desperately needing hope and change that wouldn't come until we had the sense to elect a black president.
Right.
Walking into the grocery store last week I saw a well-worn SUV sporting two bumper stickers. One implored: Give peace a chance. It was "decorated" with a picture of a bespectacled and hygienically challenged John Lennon.
No comment.
The other instructed: Ignore the environment and it will go away.
Oh, please help me. THE ENVIRONMENT WILL GO AWAY?
No … no, it won't. Because I have news for you: Almighty God controls the environment. Always has; always will.
But hey! Ignore Him all you want; He won't go away. Trust me.
A Few Parting Shots
Ever seen pictures of what was left over when the hippies staggered (or were carried) away from Woodstock in the summer of 1969?
Litter much? AP Photo
How about what Mexicans entering America illegally leave behind on our border? Not in the '50s, '60's, '70s, '80s, '90s ... but today?
Mucho trasho. AP Photo
But the mostly-decent people of the '50s and '60s were poor, simple, pseudo-moral, environmentally insensitive, politically misguided slobs; right?
And it's the flag-waving Americans -- extremists, if you believe the liberal media -- who are the problem today; right?
Wrong and … wrong.
Reader Comments (14)
Another great post! If we could go back to the morals of that time, there are a lot of things that would be better in this world!
That last picture is along the Mexican border. That is how illegals crossing the border treat their new 'home' (ahem).
Whoaaaaa!! LOVE IT!! Everything SO TRUE!
I Also traveled from Texas to Maine on the family vacations in which we stopped and ate out of many a food basket...We NEVER left Anything behind!! EVER!
Leftist Liberals...I'm just tapping my foot here in anticipation of NOVEMBER elections! 4 months 2wks....lots of foot tapping here...Lolol
Lennon???Hahahaa
Wonderful post!
hughugs
@ Mari ... I couldn't agree more ... in our day things were a far cry from perfect, but they were better than now. If only we could go back.
@ Debbie ... exactly. They have no respect for anyone's environment.
@ Donna ... see? You had to clean up after picnics too! I would like to do a "man on the street" survey and find out how many of our generation just left their trash on the ground. I'll bet there wouldn't be many. Ah, yes ... November ... then on to 2012. Here's hoping there's something left to salvage.
I'm no math wizard, but judging by the two photos in this blog post:
HIPPIES + ILLEGAL ALIENS = An immoral majority that will assault all the senses of flag-waving Americans (ESPECIALLY THEIR SENSE OF SMELL!)
@ kev ... I'm much less of a math wizard than you, but it certainly adds up! Disgusting. The wrong people are getting the blame for certain kinds of pollution. But there are three photos! My bears are being very good.
We did a LOT of camping when I was growing up, and you better believe we had to leave the campground BETTER than we found it. Honestly, though, even if the trashcans were full to overflowing, the campgrounds were almost always clean and litter free. So were the rest stops. And the beaches, and playgrounds and picnic areas.
@Jenny: Haha. My bad, I didn't mean to omit the photo of the bears! Yes, they are being very good. Of course...
I'm by no means an expert on drinking tea, but aren't you supposed to stick out your pinky finger when drinking it? You know, in order to be all classy and dignified? I hate to point this out to you, but bears don't have pinky fingers! I truly wish I could overlook this faux pas, but alas I cannot. Rules are rules. Bad form, bears!
@ Tracie ... that's what I'm talkin' about, girlfriend! We cleaned up after ourselves. And we WERE NOT in the minority. I remember all the campgrounds and rest stops and beaches and picnic areas being clean, too ... and I remember helping to keep them that way! Also Smokey the Bear! Another post ...
@ kev ... LOLOL you don't see my bears' little pinky fingers sticking out? You need glasses, my friend. Maybe you can get round ones like John Lennon's .... LOLOLOL
I agree! SO wish morals of the past would make a comeback!!!
WOW!! Great article! I love your answer to the "ignore the environment" bumper sticker.
@ Crystal ... those morals and values aren't gone forever! They live in decent God-fearing people. We've got to pass them on to our children as they were passed on to us.
@ Erica ... why thanks, little Boo!
SO true. All you have to do is watch the Democratic and Republican conventions during election years to see which crowd looks better, smells better and litters less. I'd hate to see what the DNC room looked like after "The One" was done with his speech and everyone went home.
@ Audrey ... I hadn't thought of that aspect, but you're right. Those who prate endlessly about the environment and rub our collective noses in it, care less for it than those who simply go about their business every day and love America for ALL she represents. That's what you call ironic.