Posted July 14, 2005

By Kevin Devlin

     Things that people do annoy others. Sure they do. It certainly annoys me to the point that I merely shake my head in disbelief. So, I'd like to share my thoughts, my frustrations with you, and see what you think. And, I also intend to share the thoughts of others.

     I was driving home from work one afternoon and observed a teenager on a bicycle with a drink in his hand. As he rode past a tree, near Preble Circle, he dropped the bottle onto the ground, but it didn't break. But that wasn't the point. The point is that people litter as if they have the right to do so. People just don't care. It isn't their problem.

      But they are wrong. It's our problem, everyone's problem.
Even with a comprehensive, effective, street-cleaning program offered by the city, who wants to look at cans and paper cups, and old discarded newspapers on our streets and sidewalks? This litter dropped without concern by many city residents is evident on many of our city streets.

      I'm going to have to refer to our neighbors up north again this week. I haven't visited Maine that often, but several months ago, my wife and two sons traveled to Bowdoin College for an athletic event. My son Sean was amazed how clean the highways and streets were in Maine. You needed a magnifying glass to find even one piece of litter, and it surely seemed as if the entire state was litter-free. On the way home, Sean was bothered that he had to return to Boston, the city of litterbugs, the city of litter.

     In the old days, people cared about the condition of their neighborhoods and all pitched in to keep the sidewalks and streets clean. Marty Mullen, who has lived in Southie his entire life, remembers the day that everyone swept in front of their homes, everyone kept an eye out to make sure their street was clean. And, Marty pitched in to help his neighbors on a regular basis too.

     Growing up in Savin Hill, I also remember sweeping, on many occasions-with my brothers and friends-the entire side of our street. We did it because we felt it was the right thing to do. It was actually fun, fueling a sense of accomplishment while fulfilling our civic responsibility. I always hated a dirty street.

     In the past, people didn't litter as they do now, because there was a sense of guilt if you did. And people would look at you with a jaundiced eye. Unfortunately, today there is a decidedly different attitude, a laissez-faire one. People think others will clean-up. Let city government take care of it. It's not our responsibility, not our problem.

     Unfortunately, that's not true.

     Don't blame city government because it taking care of its side of the bargain.

     It's the individual, ourselves that have let ourselves down.

(Writer's note: People do annoying things that really bother us, all of us, so what's your gripe. Send your gripes to SBOL)