Lookingaround my community, I see many people who demand respect, yet do nothing to earnit. They feel superior and entitled to some sort of homage. This attitude caneven go a step further. It seems to me that this conscious thought pattern is acontributing factor to the problem of littering.

Littering comes down todisrespect. This frame of mind leads individuals not to make a trip to a nearbytrash receptacle and instead settle for tossing their garbage aside ... any placeis fine. As a result of their laziness and disrespect, these individuals' actionslead to plants and animals dying prematurely. Plants react differently to thedecomposition of garbage. Usually, the surrounding soil becomes inadequate tocontinue nurturing their development.

Plastic fragments and glass bottleshards harm animals. Some simply stumble on broken glass or plastic, or are cutby aluminum cans. Their wounds often become infected and result indisability.

When I think of littering, I think of its effects. I try andrespect nature and its creatures. Humans need to learn to stop worrying aboutdominating and instead live in harmony. When I look around and witness people'simmaturity, it is clear why so many creatures are victims of people's disregard.It should be a common courtesy to throw away your own garbage. Would you like toclean up after someone else, or feel the effects of their filth? Of coursenot!

What littering boils down to is the fact that people need to learn torespect one another and their surroundings. No one wants to live in filth andsuffer its affects. We need to learn to live clean lives that contribute to ourenvironment, and ourselves.