A man wiping his car windscreen caught my eye, only because he was wiping it rather vigorously. Then he did what many would do - he threw the wet and used tissue on the road. It was on the tip of my tongue to yell out something but I held back, the coward that I am. I remembered the recent stories of road rage and punch ups reported in the papers.
I stared at him but he was not even looking at me. He seemed a decent type of guy. He looked educated and obviously well off enough to own a Toyota car. Why did he litter? Was it out of thoughtlessness, selfishness, laziness or defiance?
I pondered as I continued on my rounds. It can't be out of ignorance. After much thinking, I concluded that it was out of thoughtlessness - many do not even think about littering when they litter. I guess the bin, 50 m away was too far to walk to (laziness?) and the tissue should not be thrown into his clean car (selfishness?). I think very few would litter out of defiance, as a statement against the government and its laws.
And why did I not do anything? I know it was out of fear of being confronted and embarrassed. The very least I could have done was to perhaps pick the tissue up and dispose of it into the bin. But I did not. So, litter bugs continue to litter because of people like me who would not make a stand. It is such a crying shame for if we can find that courage to, I am sure we can do something about the littering problem in our beautiful city state kept litter free not by its citizens, but by a whole hoard of cleaners. As some say - Singapore - the cleaners' city! Well,one day we might become the cleanest city!!
I shall build up enough courage to do something the next time I see a litter bug who bugs me. I shall (hopefully) bug them!
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