Positivity and optimism are part of my DNA. I was born buoyant and instinctively believe the best of people.
But sometimes humans show themselves to be a new kind of underclass – a filthy animal that doesn’t even look after its pack.
Rosemount Nursery took to its Facebook page recently to lay out some uncomfortable truths.
People were entering staff-only areas. They were going in via the exit. People were haring through the carpark without regard for people lugging their plants and gardening paraphernalia.
And then the worst and smelliest bits of all: people who brought their pups were not always picking up their poop.
Imagine that! At a business premises, a dog drops a landmine and the owner (presumably after looking furtively to ensure there are no witnesses) saunters away, leaving a steaming heap in their wake. Who does that?
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People who think they can get away with it, that’s who.
Remember at the end of 2021, when Sea Shepherd volunteers did a beach clean at Mudjimba dog beach and, in one hour, picked up 180 used dog-waste bags weighing in at 25kg?
But wait, there is more. At the beautiful Rosemount Nursery, people also fail to clean up after themselves, leaving the toilets is a disgusting state. Let your mind run beyond wastepaper bins that are overflowing and get really down and dirty and you will get the picture.
I find myself wondering whether the uncivilised creeps who leave such an unsanitary jumble in a public facility also live in squalor, but I suspect they save their grossest moments for other people to clean up. And that is the nub of their problem: there is a growing number of people who lack respect for others.
They see those who serve them or provide a space as less, as servants, as lowly. They see a service or the provision of goods as a free pass to act in a slovenly and boorish way – the result of which is someone else’s problem.
The skin-crawling, gag-inducing truth of it is that we are all dragged down by the behaviour of the worst of us. And there are some people whose behaviour shows them to be the worst of the animals.
Dr Jane Stephens is a UniSC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer. The views expressed are her own.
