Close to the top of my list of things that really annoy me are litterbugs and gossips. As I walked the road near my home this month filling a 55-gallon industrial plastic bag with litterbug trash castoffs, it dawned on me just how closely related the two species are. Litterbugs and gossips both strew their waste products along the roadways of our lives with regard for no one. They are selfish, arrogant, and only you can stop them.

Littering is nasty. It costs the state of Pennsylvania over ten million dollars per year to clean up our roadways. I cannot understand how a person can consciously toss waste along our gorgeous roads. As I walked along that road picking trash I was amazed at what I found; piles of fast-food containers, dozens of donut shop coffee cups, innumerable beer cans, and yes, believe it or not, urine filled plastic jugs!

As I said, litterbugs and gossips are very much alike.

Litterbugs toss their trash (and bodily excrement) along our roads and gossips entertain themselves by tossing the trash (and excrement) of their souls across our communities. The only difference I find between the two is that litterbugs are apathetic about their actions while gossips are passionate about spewing forth their waste. It is their life's work to contaminate the minds of receptive listeners. They bear their tales of misery, mystery and foreboding accusation from person to person like pigeons winging from rooftop to rooftop. (And we know what pigeons leave behind)

Littering is a crime against our state and an offense to the creator of the beauty all around us. Gossip is a social crime practiced by bitter lazy people. Both defile our lives. These are two offenses for the ZERO-TOLERANCE zone. You can help stop these social trash mongers. It's easy. Just tell them to STOP and report them! I do it all the time. Report litterbugs to the authorities! Report gossips to the people they gossip about! Nothing rehabilitates a litterbug like a visit from the police and nothing stops a gossip faster than the fear of exposure.