One sunny thursday afternoon I was walking along one of the London roads noticing 3 teenage boys riding their bikes in front of me. They stopped. I didn’t care.
I heard one of them say “..Don’t ride, you’re going to be sick I’m telling ya…” I Suddenly see something tossed in the air. Right in front of my face. It’s a Mars milkshake plastic bottle. That is when my anger levels started rising.
I said :
-You dropped something.
The boy kindly answered:
–Pardon?
I repeat:
-You dropped something.
He says:
-I know.
I tell him to put it in the bin whilst carrying on walking.
He looked at me like he has just seen a ghost. Or maybe he needed to compute what a bin is. No idea.
I few seconds later I walk past a bin, turn around and say “There is a bin right here!” They were still standing in the same spot, possibly thinking about what just happened. I heard one of his mates saying “Put it in the bin mate“.
Nothing else for me to do there. I kept on walking thinking what on earth are kids nowadays. At least one of the boys reacted appropriately.
So I make my way into Hobby Crafts to kill some time and eventually make my way out through a car park. All this time I was thinking “Why are kids like that!?!?!”.
Then I see more rubbish being tossed in the air. I follow where they come from and guess what I’m seeing. A woman sitting in a car, throwing plastic wrappers out of the window. Do you know what shocked me more? She was a mum. With 2 kids sitting in the back seat, both of age that allows them to understand everything their mum is doing, observing her every move.
Can you see my point?
Now I know why kids are like that.
We show them what is right and what is wrong. To be honest I expected the boy to tell me to bugger off at first but he said “Pardon” in a way that made me feel like he is a well mannered young human. Unfortunately, if you disrespect the environment in such a way, you lack some fundamental manners . You can attend the best schools, use all the grammar rules and have the poshest accent but if you litter – you cannot be called well behaved.
If you have kids, please teach them about recycling. Be an example they should follow. It looks like in today’s world you have to teach the obvious. Litter pollutes the environment, hurts animals and looks ugly. Don’t be like the lady in the car park. Take care of the environment.
Thanks
Milena x
Perhaps you want to read my other thoughts? But get yourself ready and sit comfortably – it’s a lengthy one.