People of leaving their trash all over the place, including glass bottles that, if broken, represent an extreme danger for persons walking barefoot on the beach. It is one of those vexing problems that has been with us for a long time, but lately seems to be getting worse. We are referring, of course, to the nasty habit some people who use our beaches have of leaving their trash all over the place, including glass bottles that, if broken, represent an extreme danger for persons walking barefoot on the beach.
A particularly egregious case of this annoying practice by inconsiderate uses of our beaches prompted a scathing letter recently from a reader, who was appalled by the amount of trash left from a party.
“I am always annoyed that people just throw their garbage on the beach and in the trees, but this was really the limit,” a Concerned Beach Walker wrote in a letter published last week in The Freeport News. “The temporary but most likely permanent wood bar they set up was covered in every liquor bottle they had used up.
The ground beneath the shade trees was littered with hundreds of plastic cups, empty milk bottles and several glass beer bottles in the ocean. I even saw a small, glass baby bottle just tossed into the water’s edge.”
The writer then asked some very pertinent questions: “Are you who had the party, all day and into the night with the music blaring, coming back to pick up your horrid mess? Or are you just leaving it for someone else to pick up? Is this what you are going to leave to your children?…Will it be your child that one day isn’t so lucky and steps on the broken glass? What do you think the average tourist and possible investor sees and decides when confronted with all the trash on this beautiful island?”
The writer concludes with this admonishment: “Please wake up Grand Bahama residents and clean up your home.”
More likely than not, the latter advice would fall on deaf ears among those persons who habitually misuse our beaches. These quite possibly are persons who allow dishes to accumulate in their homes for days and really don’t mind sharing their living space with the rats and roaches that their filthy lifestyles attract.
The writer headlined her letter, “Shame, shame, shame on you,” but such downright nasty people can’t be shamed into changing their bad habits.
However, what persons of this ilk need to keep in mind is that our beaches are not their homes; they are there for the public to enjoy, and even if the axiom cleanliness is next to godliness means absolutely nothing to them in their households, civic pride should dictate that they at least make an effort to behave and act differently when using our public beaches and facilities.
