Kubra Maharramova investigates: where has our sense of cleanliness disappeared?
Our nation has many cultured, educated, and ethical individuals. But lately, those who are only verbally cultured seem to outnumber them. Ask anyone, and they'll swear, "Oh God, we are clean people, we never litter." Villagers or city dwellers, it makes no difference.
After every major or minor event in our country, the resulting scene is heartbreaking. Yesterday, after the Carpet Festival in Icherisheher, the square was left covered in trash. Comments on social media mostly read, "So many people were there, so what if there's trash?"
That's exactly the problem: those who think this way have trashy minds. Their thoughts are garbage, their words are garbage. They disrespect the labor of those they deem weaker—they are the proverbial donkey from Hamadan. Cleanliness isn't about dressing up; it's about inner order. You can't achieve cleanliness by styling greasy hair with a flat iron or trimming your beard with a ruler.
Every day, hundreds of mostly elderly women sweep the streets. And every day, some residents do their best to turn the capital into a dog's breakfast. Who throws trash from cars? Who tosses baby diapers from balconies? Who drops food wrappers on the street? Is it people from other cities?
Remember when Goygol National Park opened? Within a day, visitors littered the entire area. Then some people argued that there weren't enough trash bins—that's why they littered! So, my beautiful people still don't understand that littering is forbidden, shameful, and uncivilized, regardless of the location.
You look at the city, the country, the development, and then you see the people who ruin it... You feel such shame and regret that you can't express your thoughts. So what should we do? Close Icherisheher? Close Goygol National Park so people don't come and litter everywhere?
Notice, people don't discriminate between village and city. Wherever they go, they leave their mark. They go to the forest to relax and leave trash. They don't even put out their campfires, causing forest fires. They go to the seaside, to the beach, and litter. They go to villages, riverbanks, and litter there too.
Again, look at how low we've sunk that we're discussing the topic of littering. How can we explain? What can we do so that one day you don't wake up up to your neck in trash?
But I have a proposal. Along with fining all litterers, we should take their photos and display them on large banners for everyone to see. With a caption: So-and-so, age, resident of such-and-such place, fined such amount for littering in such-and-such place, and their photo posted on the "shame board." Maybe that will bring some change. But then again, for someone who voluntarily embarrasses themselves on TikTok, what difference does it make where their photo is posted?
After a certain age, it's impossible to teach basic behavior through explanation alone. Unfortunately, inner cleanliness is not given to everyone by nature—if God hasn't granted it, no human can bestow it. Sometimes I think even God feels sick looking at such slobs.
