Keep TCC and America clean
by Brian Wainstein, Editor-In-Chief

    With summer over, the legions of glassy-eyed vacationers return, sated, to their homes.
    What though, did the masses of holidaymakers leave in their wake?
    Beaches, parks and forests littered with cigarette butts, cans, bottles, wrappers and the occasional pair of lost swimwear all pay tribute to vacationers' insatiable, selfish desires.
    Nobody seems to care anymore about the world around us. Every day, people who just do not care defile our planet's natural and man-made beauty: national monuments, great wonders, ancient trees. All of these bear graffiti of some type.
    I appreciate the desire to leave a permanent testament to yourself, but doing so at the detriment of all those to come after you is more than a little selfish.
    And litter, well, that is found everywhere.
   TCC's grassy sidewalks are often choked with cigarette butts, discarded notes and half-eaten food.
   Trite though it sounds, if you see some trash on the ground, throw it away.
   The janitorial staff is too small to clean up after the more than 30,000 registered TCC students. They need help.
   We've all heard it, all just let it in one ear and out the other, but only a minuscule effort is really needed.
   Although now is too late to try to reform any part of the summer holiday horde, I hope for the future, for all vacations hence.
   The next time I go to the beach and people try to leave a wrapper flapping in the breeze, I want to see everyone glare at them with such rancor, such scorn-filled glares that they correct their faux-pas and NEVER litter again.
    Everyone enjoys pristine beaches, and if we all realized that each little wrapper plays another bar in the sandy havens' requiems, maybe we would treat them better.
    Similarly, nobody wants to have to wade through a foot of trash to get to class. Trashcans abound on every campus, as do ashtrays in the designated smoking areas. Why ruin the homes of the rabbits, squirrels and other dislocated woodland creatures that live on TCC's campuses, not to mention the campuses themselves?
    I still have faith in humanity. Prove me right next time you have the urge to litter.