Who's gonna pick that up??

Before I even start this post, I need to let you know that I HATE LITTER!!! I just think it's so unnecessary....

So last week I was driving around the neighborhood around the church for various reasons. The first time I was behind an ice cream truck of all things. The girl driving had her window rolled down, cigarette in hand and all of a sudden, she hucks a plastic water bottle out the passenger side window. I mean it takes all that I have not to get "Tawanda" with her and start honking as I ram her from behind. So just so you know...ice cream drivers in the hood are not a good example for our kids. The next day I'm driving by this group of boys that are walking down the street and one of them finishes his drink and throws the empty bottle down on the sidewalk....oh, so I'm fired up by this point...

Why is it that people have such disregard for their neighborhood that they throw their trash on the ground? I mean who do they think is going to pick that up??? The thing that really gets me going is that both of these events that I witnessed were in low income areas. Just one more indication that our kids don't have any pride in where they live. They don't own it. They don't understand that they could make it a better place. I'm going to have to think about what that means to me as a children's pastor. I want our kids to see this community as THEIR community. If they aren't being taught that at home...then I think church would be a good place to start....

So for all those reading this....if I see you throw your trash on the ground I'm going to go postal...I think it might be my biggest pet peeve....followed of course by people who start writing a check after they've waited in line forever and the cashier is all done ringing up their order....I'll save that for another post...