Do you remember the commercial on pollution with an Indian
Chief as spokesman? It is the one where
a Native American, Iron Eyes Coty, sheds a tear as he looks at a polluted
stream. Every time I saw the commercial,
I thought it looked a lot like the roads, streams, and creeks in Chilton County
When I walk the fence line on my property in Jemison, I have
to carry a garbage sack, sometimes two, to pick up behind sorry folks who throw
out their trash. I don’t know about you,
but I do not like picking up other people’s trash.
I have identified some characteristics of those people that
want us to pick up after them. One is
they like fast food restaurants, especially McDonald’s. It is bad enough to pick up hamburger
wrappers, but it is wrappers, open catsup packets, tissue, and bit and pieces
of hamburger, buns, and fries. These
folks try to be helpful by tossing out the whole bag where a family of four
has chowed down on the grub, in their old jalopy, on the way to who knows
where. Undoubtedly, it is a place where
there are no trash bins or containers.
Another thing is that these polluters smoke cigarettes,
especially Marlboro lights in the box.
It’s bad enough that they empty their ashtrays in the public parking
lots, but they decorate the highways with butts and empty boxes. Every time I see someone toss a butt on the
ground I want to pick it up and toss it on his or her car, but that would make
me like him or her. I need to be careful
here, I want to preach a minute on the dreadful odor of nicotine and the awful
sight of discarded butts when entering places that are clearly marked, “A
Tobacco Free Facility.” The ones at
hospitals are kinda of an oxymoron.
Oop’s, I almost got on a soapbox.
Another identifying mark of the polluter is they drink
alcohol, especially Bud Light. They
usually prefer the dark long neck bottles that break on impact. These babies create safety hazards for the
unprotected hand and the unsuspecting lawnmower tire. The long neck bottle provides a nice handle
to use the bottle as a projectile to toss at mailboxes, especially the fancy
antique aluminum ones or the very elusive metal fence post that gallantly holds
the barbed wire and retains docile livestock.
Coming in second in alcohol arena is empty pints of
whiskey. These are more durable and are
not easily broken, excepting when you run over them with a tractor. They shatter pretty good when a water filled
rear tractor tire sits directly on top of them.
The lowest of polluters is the one that uses plastic soda
bottles as temporary holders of urine.
These pee bombs wreak havoc on the unsuspecting lawn care worker who is
so diligent to keep his or her area of the county right-of-way Southern Living Magazine perfect and help lower the high cost of county maintenance
butchering, I mean bush hogging, of grass and trash.
Pollution is not confined to the streams, creeks, and
roadsides. Radio, television, movies,
music and iphones, and all manner of
social media have a lion’s share of pollution. One evening at Linden Fitness and Tan, some young men tried to play
some polluted music from their iphones. They would not because a certain man was in
the gym. He told me that he was going to
hang around because they will not play it in his presence. I told him not to worry and that I would
handle it. Sure enough, just as soon as
he left, these young men started to play their filthy music. I calmly walked over and asked if their music
contained bad (lewd or suggestive) music.
They said no, but they turned it off because I heard some filthy
stuff. There were some young girls in
the gym and I reminded these two young men that neither the girls nor I wanted to
hear it.
It is sad that filthy language is becoming more prevalent
each day. Madison Avenue advertising
tries to put offensive and suggestive language in commercials for hamburgers,
credit cards, and most recently Chevy trucks.
Thankfully, people complain and they remove the offensive language.
O.S. Hawkins in his devotion, The Joshua Principle reminds us that in the last days there will be
a polluted pulpit. One of the sure signs
of the Lord’s Second Coming is that pulpits will turn from the truth. Paul said, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned
unto fables.” II Timothy 4:2-4
Polluted pulpits create polluted congregations. Believers are to be in the world, but not of
the world. The Word of God is forever
true. As the Word of God unfolds around
us, my we influence culture rather than culture influencing the church.
The picture I see here is not of Iron Eyes Coty shedding a
tear, but of our Lord Jesus Christ shedding His blood.
I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 KJV)
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