This article was forwarded to El Gringo Viejo's daughter by one of her school chums who has been part of our not-so-extended family for the past three or four hundred years. This friend of my daughter's and another OROG who is equally important to the family are both Democrats of a sort and liberals of a sort, and El Gringo Viejo has no idea why they have the least use for him. It is probably because they know that if either of them or any of theirs need A positive, I will go to give them my blood. They have done well by my wife and children and therefore they are of my tribe.
CORPUS CHRISTI —A Caller-Times report last week about beach litter contained this interesting nugget:
CORPUS CHRISTI —A Caller-Times report last week about beach litter contained this interesting nugget:
Discarded disposable diapers have become such a growing concern that a beach debris summit in Galveston sponsored by the Texas General Land Office included a panel dedicated exclusively to that problem.
Not the kind of nugget one should encounter on the beach or anywhere else. Unfortunately, these joyless little bundles also litter our parks, shopping center parking lots and roadways.
Corpus Christi has a litter problem. Mayor Joe Adame and others have made admirable efforts to address it by organizing cleanups, making a point to show up and work hard at those cleanups long beyond the photo-opportune moment, increasing awareness and urging people to take pride in their surroundings.
But the problem persists and disposable diapers are its most disgusting emblem. We're not aware of a less forgivable littering transgression.
Changing a diaper isn't a welcome task but it's surprisingly easy, thanks to sanitary wipes and the way diapers are made these days. Anyone who must change diapers learns quickly how to wrap up and seal the mess efficiently into a small, portable package with a surprisingly clean outer surface. The diaper's adhesive seals the package so thoroughly that the only real objection to handling it until it can be disposed of properly is the knowledge of what's inside.
That said, there's no acceptable excuse for anyone to share this experience with others by leaving the diaper where it doesn't belong. Too many parents, grandparents, guardians and older siblings have guided children through the diaper stage successfully without once leaving a used diaper where it didn't belong.
Youthful parents' immaturity is not an excuse. The pressures on a single parent supervising several scurrying small children are no excuse. A grandparent's arthritic pain is not an excuse. If a trash can is too far or not immediately available, the diaper-changer can store the unwanted package on the floorboard or the trunk for the time being.
They don't even smell all that bad. We might expect some disagreement on that point. Anyone who does disagree has all the more moral obligation not to share used diapers with the rest of us.
But share they do. The result is that the neatly wrapped package bursts under the tire of the next car to park in the parking space, or under the foot that stepped on it.
The South Texas sun hastens this bursting process but, as the panelists in Galveston noted, the decomposition process is slow and vexing from an environmental standpoint. The plastic takes 400 to 500 years to decompose and, needless to say, fecal contamination is a concern.
The panelists discussed remedies such as assigning jail inmates and those sentenced to community service to diaper patrol, and enlisting churches that teach the concept of Creation Care, the name given our moral imperative to take care of this Earth.
Those are good ideas but we also urge special, enhanced fines and no-tolerance enforcement targeting this specific type of litter.
Why single out diapers? Because we can't help but suspect that even the most well-meaning, least squeamish, hardest-working litter cleanup volunteers also find ways to single them out, as in "I'll pick up anything BUT that." Who can blame them? And why else would there be a need to assign jail inmates specifically to the task?
Please, diaper changers, treat proper disposal as the responsibility that it is. And please, Powers That Be, enhance the penalties for the crime that this is. Motivate those responsible to act responsibly.
This has been the Gringo Viejo's nuclear grump-out thunder-whine for about 412 years now. It can be explained, understood, studied, and instructed....but it will continue. The problem is basic, simple, and irremediable. The marxists and social justice and equalitarians in the central government have convinced the world that poor is better than well to do. Being a taker is better than being a giver. Being taken care of is better than being self-sufficient. Being a narcissist is better than being a practicioner of the Golden Rule and a servant to humanity. The people who throw pampers are gutter slime without souls whose job it is to be slobs and concerned only about eating, procreating, and avoiding work or communitarian obligations. They are "The Democrat Base" who are better than producers.
Carry this through to the Occupy movement....they gather, they befoul everything, and leave the mess to the pain and cost of others.
The dumboe Tea Party people gather and the place where they gather is cleaner when they leave than when they arrived.
The Democrats and the Mainstream Media call the Occupy movement "People who are doing God's work". The Democrats and the Mainstream Media call the Tea Party People "racists and extremists." Makes a guy proud to be an American.
