People who
use the world without any awareness of their
impact on it, nor any desire to know their impact. You can recognize them by their SUV’s. You can recognize them by their consumerism. You can recognize them by the great volumes of
energy they use and
trash they throw away. You can recognize them by their total lack of sense of
community.
For example, let’s take my neighbors. I’ve decided to call them the Blights because they are, so clearly, a blight upon everything around them.
I couldn’t figure out how to categorize my new neighbors for a long time. I knew they were bad people, but I just could not find a popular term for their particular type of bad. They are the type of people who live entirely in their own world, for their own benefit, without any regard for their effects on the world around them. They have absolutely no idea about their impact on the environment, the neighborhood, people, or anything else.
The names “white trash” and “non-white trash” were taken, and there's even a "Rich White Trash", but not everyone is white, right?. And besides, they are rich. Or at least they like to think they are rich. They are rich for this relatively poor corner of the U.S. we call South Carolina and enjoy pointing this out to everyone they meet.
Some examples of things they do that are annoying? Well, the list is long, so I won’t go into everything. But, I will list a few.
- They started building their house 4 years ago and have not finished yet. It’s a standard box duplex – not complicated. But apparently they plan on doing it with minimum wage workers who do not have essential tools such as nail guns. I’ve had to listen to this for nine months, and am not happy. They start every day, including Saturday and Sunday between 7 and 8 AM. This includes Easter Sunday, which for some people is a religious holiday. I don’t know how the neighbors on the other side have taken this for four years.
- They clear-cut the entire yard a few months ago and left all of the vegetation in a large pile in the back. I mentioned the risk of erosion to the owner – let’s call him “Mr. Blight” - and he said that I should keep my business on my side of the fence. The next good rain half of his yard also ended up on my side of the fence. I should also mention the tidal creek behind our yards. It needs high cover – the infant myriad creatures who live in it need shade and protection. The resultant silting from the yard clearing seemed to kill everything in the creek for over a month. And there is no more shelter there for infant fish, crabs, shrimp, etc.
- Mr. Blight told me that the 1/3 of the 100-year-old Live Oak tree that is in his yard (but originates in mine) would be cut down when they finished construction (which fortunately may never happen). Apparently the portion of tree on his side of the fence is his to cut. (Mr. Blight is a lawyer, in case you haven’t guessed yet.)
- They have 1.5 SUV’s for each family member, and have decided to buy some sort of wimped-out motorcycles for riding around the island. Bear in mind that the greatest distance from any point to any other point on this island is six miles and we’re only two blocks from Center Street (the only place where there are shops and restaurants). If you can’t bicycle or walk to where you’re going here, you’ve got to get an exercise routine (unless, of course, you’re handicapped).
In general, these could be considered bad people. The sorts that us in the “younger”
generation are all hoping will die off soon and stop trashing the planet.
It is clear that they plan on using as much herbicide and pesticide as they can buy on their yard. This, too, does not bode well for the nursery that is the tidal creek.
They are either rude or condescending to nearly everyone around here; considering themselves to be superior to all of us. The only person they’ve made friends with is the City Inspector. I don’t know if they are paying the Inspector in cash or pot. I can’t imagine its pot ‘cause if the Blights smoked they’d definitely be easier to get along with.
If you were to make up a list of the least considerate people in the world, in order, it would go something like this:
- Adolph Hitler
- My Neighbors, the Blights
- United Flight Attendants just prior to a strike
At the other end of the scale would be, of course,
Mother Teresa.