How can we have that level of sense of responsibility?
I’m waiting for my bus in Redmond, near Seattle, USA. My girls and I are going to downtown Seattle today, and we got off at the wrong stop. So, next bus will be in twenty minutes or so. What to do but wait? The place is the typical American town. Waliya and Nadiya decide to look in at shops nearby. I decide to stand outside in the lovely sunlight and relax. The place looks well organized, laid back. I see a man coming towards me, walking his dog. It’s a cute dog, and I’m missing my Paprika. So, I watch the dog. He looks really cute. Then, he looks uncomfortable…. Looks around to find a nice ‘spot’ in the landscaped vegetation nearby, then he arches his back and concentrates hard on doing what pooping dogs do. Instead of looking away, I keep looking, as I’m really curious as to what the owner is going to do, he is waiting patiently, trying not to interrupt his dogs’ concentration. Soon, the doggy is satisfied, moves forward making a ceremonious kick back of what he thinks will cover up his mess. Now the tricky part has come. The man calmly puts his hand in his pocket, takes out a pouch of a paper bag. Puts his hand inside it, and expertly picked up the poop and pulls off the bag, filling it up, and tying it up. He then looked around and found a trash can (was it for this purpose?) nearby, where he disposed it off, and continued with his walk. I am watching all this from the side of my eyes, pretending to be watching something else. But it suddenly dawned on me.
This is it! This is the secret of success of a developed country, where each citizen grows up responsible for all the mess he or his dog makes. He is careful, not to spoil his community or town. He is so responsible.
Can we imagine Pakistanis ever being like this? I’ve owned dogs all my life. Never, have I done such a thing. I try to clean up my garbage wherever I am. But…. Dog’s poop is where I draw the line! We not only have dogs, but cows, horses, donkeys, birds, hens….. I guess all this is too much. But then, we have so many people. When I was a kid. There were tongas, or horse drawn buggies. The horses, had a bag like thing behind them, where their poop fell. But mostly, no one bothered, and we were used to seeing the stuff on roads. All of us had to watch our step.
Recently, I got a lot of repair work done in my house. It cost me the earth. But at every stage, I was expected to pick up the mess made by each worker. – Even though I provided them with sheets of paper, bags and newspapers. Still the mess was not cleaned properly.
Our whole country runs like this. We all make messes for those around us to go picking it all up behind us. Our poor servants, mostly have to do all these dirty jobs of ours. We never think twice about it.
Even Paprika, who was careful not to ruin my cute little lawn, would run across the road to do the needful in my neighbors’ front lawn. No wonder her husband threatened to kill it! I didn’t mind the threats, as I thought they were well deserved!
So, in these little ways we find out why we have such a long way to go before we become a developed state, and why! 😉
Sigh!
Any ideas?
Thanks for reading, my sweeties ….. Stay blessed, till we become a developed state too!
