We live in a Lowcountry paradise. Why do some people seem intent on trashing it?
Between all the rain this past week, the gloomy news and staying pretty much housebound, I found myself in a reflective mood.
Quite honestly, it began when I had to make a run to Lowes for a new flapper valve for one of my toilets. If you are thinking I was bummed out that a flapper valve had bit the dust, then you and I live in very different worlds.
What spurred thoughts of days gone by was, sadly, the incredible amount of trash along the highway.
We live in one of the most beautiful places on earth and it just floors me that some folks who have been blessed to live in such beauty can open their car window and casually throw all manner of trash onto this paradise. Empty fast food bags, household garbage and worst of all to me, the copious volume of beer and soda cans.
Is this a result of poor parenting? Had my dad or mom caught me pitching trash out the window, I would still be sitting on a pillow after a serious a-- whopping.
Having lived here for over sixty years, it is hard not to think back to the early days when deer outnumbered people. Talk about pristine. It was incredible - mostly dirt roads and blissful silence.
Cars were few and far between and the humming of cicadas was deafening. The sound they made was the most incredible chorus as they hit high notes and then, just as quickly, switched to a barely audible hum. I can still remember walking alone on a dirt road mesmerized by nature’s symphony.
The times have definitely changed but my love for the Lowcountry will never fade.
One of my favorite sayings says it all: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”
Gone forever are those remarkable years I was so blessed to have experienced. But change or no change, how can any person with eyesight treat such a blessed place with such disregard? The ungodly amount of litter along our roadways and in our waters is such a slap in nature’s face. For eons, nature has worked day and night to create this amazing place. Mankind is a relative newcomer to this creation, and, for whatever reason, we are doing our best to desecrate this masterpiece.
My wife Karen is an animal when it comes to litter, as am I. On the very road that inspired the subject matter for this column, Karen got so fired up she pulled over and began gathering up all the litter. I wasn’t with her but on a regular basis we walk along the stretch of Alljoy Road near our Bluffton home picking up trash and beer cans. Many times, cars pass by us honking their horn and give us a big thumbs up. We are all different, but I am still waiting on one of these honkers to stop and help.
Only a block or so from the public boat landing, I am aghast at the amount of garbage left behind by some boaters after they’ve spent a day on the water. Once again, I can’t help but think that these litter bugs have been given the gift of exploring our wonderful waters - whether to fish, tube or simply view wildlife such as bald eagles and our very friendly dolphins. What a gift!
These folks then repay nature by simply dumping plastic bags and all other manners of trash on or near the boat ramp when, not twenty feet further up the ramp, sits garbage cans supplied by the county.
I am out on the water a lot. About 90% of the time, I see boats fly by me with a plastic bag flying out the back. Instead of turning around and picking up the bag that I know they saw overboard, they just keep on going. I don’t. It infuriates me that I have to go pick up their mess.
I know we can never go back to the Lowcountry that was. But if we all take a moment to realize just how lucky we all are to live in such a place, then maybe we can show nature just how much we care for all she has given to us.
Like the song “Teach Your Children” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, I can pretty much guarantee a better world all around if we did just that.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 2:13 PM.