Dear Source,
I am writing to respond to Dwayne Henry's letter regarding the litter problem in the Virgin Islands and the fact that the people may be emulating what they have seen or learned on the mainland or from visitors from the mainland. I disagree.
I don't know what part of North Carolina he lives, but where I live in Maryland, there is no litter problem. Even the so-called ghettos don't have the litter problem to the extent that is found in the Virgin Islands. In fact, I have been to a lot of the States, and I have never seen a litter problem in any of them as bad as the one in the Virgin Islands.
Littering is all about personal pride, and it is learned behavior. I was raised in the V.I. during all of my formative years, and I was taught not to litter. This is a behavior that I have continued to hold onto through out my adult years. It always disheartens me when I come back "home" to visit, and the island reminds me of Bovoni Dump.
If it looks that way in my eyes (and I know that the islands have a litter problem), then imagine how it looks for someone who is visiting for the first time and is expecting to see "America's Paradise." That is the way that the islands are identified, so that it is the way they should look. Not just for the people that visit, but for the people that are actually living there.
Virgin Islanders, have personal pride and respect for your home. The entire island is your home, not just the corner where you live. Clean up the place and make sure that it remains clean. Enforce the litter laws that we have (they do exist even if it is not evident) and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone that is found littering.
Parents, teach your children not to litter and do not litter yourselves. In other words, teach by example.
Don't you think that you deserve to live in a place that is clean and devoid of filth? You do deserve that, so please rise up to the challenge.
Kathryn Wallace Boschulte
Silver Spring, Md.
