Why Are People Such Pigs?

I'll never understand it. The fact that some people are just trashy was blazoned across two places we visited today, and there's just no excuse for it. People will argue that since this is a "free country," we all have the right to do whatever we wish. What they forget, or are just too dense to understand, is that people don't have the right to interfere with someone else's enjoyment of the world. This is one of my favorite soap boxes, so let me explain how the idea presented itself today.

My family went to the Casa Grande ruins in Coolidge, AZ. We listened to a knowledgeable and friendly tour guide for awhile, but eventually meandered off to explore the place on our own. When we arrived at the doorway marking the entrance to the Hohokam structure which was built in the 1300's, a gate barred our way. My husband, who had visited the site as a kid in the 1970's reminisced about going inside the building and wandering around. As my son peered through the gate and voiced his wish to go inside, he noticed some graffiti etched into one of the walls. "There," he said. "That's probably why we can't go in anymore." Someone, who knows when or where, had decided that this centuries old wonder of ingenuity needed to be "decorated" for everyone's enjoyment. This carving into the fragile walls saddened me and my family. We so wanted to stand inside where ancient Native Americans had stood and try to imagine their lives, their hopes, their dreams. This transcendent experience was denied us because someone else exercised his "right" to do whatever he wanted. Needless to say, walking around outside the structure and peering in through the gates gave us only a small taste of the place that we wanted to drink in completely.

After our visit to the ruins we enlisted the help of the Garmin to find a park for the picnic lunch we carried in the trunk. We sifted through several candidates before finding one that had enough room and grass to play Frisbee and cook out. Here, we were again confronted by the needless piggishness of people. The park was generally a nice place with a large ramada for parties, playground equipment (including swings - my favorite!), grass, and shade trees. We parked ourselves under a tree near our car and set up our picnic. As my husband cooked the hotdogs on the portable grill, my son and I meandered through the grass and played on the swings. We couldn't help but notice the trash lying around including three empty alcohol bottles - rum, whiskey, and bourbon - an empty Eskimo pie box, crumpled paper cups, a torn KFC bag, and an empty shoe box complete with the paper stuffing from a new pair of shoes setting on top of a sack from a local store. As we ate our lunch, two young women brought several children to play. They all trooped past the trash lying around, but ignored it. We seemed to be the only people there picking up garbage. What has happened to our society that we can allow other people the "right" to make a mess out of our enjoyment? How long must we wait for people to take responsibility for themselves and their environment? Henry David Thoreau said that if one person stands up for what is right, others will follow. Isn't it time to reclaim our parks and monuments from the boorish and porcine people of the world?