9/16/13
TRASH: Picking up trash is every student’s responsibility.
By Amy Wang, Opinions Editor
Picture this: Powerade-stained tables scattered with greasy paper trays and empty chip bags. In the background, a tumbleweed of wrappers wanders the campus, a ghost of lunchtimes past. It’s not a pretty sight, yet it’s the one we’re forced to see as we walk through campus after lunch, dodging half-eaten apples that were tossed carelessly to the ground.
And the worst part? We’re all to blame. Even if you didn’t throw the untouched salad lying there, you watched as someone did. You watched as others walked around, picking up the mess you left behind when you decided that it was too much work walking a couple of feet to the trash can and instead let the trash pile up on the table in front of you instead.
The question now is: Why?
Why don’t we care that kids, the same ones we share math class with and see everyday, are making this campus a dirtier place for all of us? Why don’t we care that we’re just sitting by, letting them? Why are we letting others pick up our trash, not even caring that this responsibility actually belongs to us?
The trash may not follow you home in the form of empty water bottles and cereal bar wrappers, but it follows you in another way. It follows you in the form of apathy, a misconception that not caring is “cool” and being cool is all that matters in high school.
There’s some comfort–although misplaced and naïve–in the assumption that, as teenagers, what we do now doesn’t directly affect our future. All we were really told was to get good grades, stay out of trouble and make it through four years, and we would be home free.
Except that’s not even half of it. Life extends outside of the walls you and your circle of friends have put up to protect yourselves, and the sooner you step out of your bubble of safety, the sooner you see yourself for who you are: a little speck floating around, waiting for some higher power to show you the way. But there is no path just yet; you have to create it.
Don’t take our campus for granted, but more importantly, don’t take yourselves for granted. It doesn’t hurt to pick up the tray of food you finished and throw it away into a trash can. Treat yourself with respect by showing that you mean more to yourself and to society by breaking the mold.
If it’s out of your comfort zone to speak up, lead by example instead. Don’t make excuses as to why you can’t do something. Don’t think that, hey, if hundreds of other kids aren’t throwing away trash, what difference do I make if I don’t either? Every action counts, just as every voice counts.
Because in the end, the little things do matter. So do this for the mindless kids still going about thinking it’s “cool” to leave their trash around for others to pick up. Do this for people picking up the leftover trash and cleaning up after our messes. And most importantly, do this for yourself. You’re one step closer to making a difference, and all you had to do was throw away trash. It’s a lot easier than you thought, huh?