Respect Jordan: Clean Up After Yourself

I'm sitting at a traffic light the other day, when I witness some guy toss a wadded up piece of paper out of his car and onto the street. This burns me up! Every day, people toss their trash all over the city with the expectation that someone else will pick it up. I view this as a huge form of laziness and disrespect towards one's country.

I partially blame the government for this mentality. By providing the low-class street workers (the zibaal, if you will) in order to try to keep things tidy and provide additional jobs, perhaps the government has inadvertently set into play the idea that they will be the sole provider for cleanliness in Amman.

On the other hand, I largely blame the population. There is a certain expectation that keeping Jordan clean (and safe, and green, etc. But I digress...) is someone else's responsibility. Take my neighbors, for instance. They march their trash bags out to the street and plop them along the wall across from our apartment building. Not only does this build up to an unsightly pile of garbage until the street worker finally hauls it away, but it allows the cats to break it open and strew the trash all over my yard. I might be able to understand this course of action if there wasn't a government-provided dumpster 20 paces down the street! My neighbors are just too lazy to walk their trash down and dispose of it properly.

I find no excuse for such behavior. Not only does it affect the city in which we live, but such attitudes play into other aspects of life, as well. I feel that we all would like to live in a city that is modern, appealing and well kept. If we all do our part as decent citizens to take care of Amman, there is no reason why she cannot become the Jewel of the Levant.