College Essay # 180

180. If you could ban anything in the world, what would it be and why?

Returning home to Kathmandu after spending a few months in school, I’ve noticed many changes in the city. Some were good changes and some were bad. But there was one thing that really caught my attention. While driving down the streets of Kathmandu, I’ve really noticed an increase in number of “holy images.” I’ve noticed many posters stuck on building walls next to sidewalks. Though many Nepalese are religious and pious, I thought it was a bit peculiar to have such a poster hanging close to a filthy, smelly sidewalk. I noticed this not in one place, but many places. The unusual thing was that, the posters were put in places where a lot of people pass by on a daily basis. I asked my parents why this was so, and they explained that people started putting pictures of our Hindu deities in order to stop people from urinating on the streets and throwing garbage near the sidewalks. Like I told you, Nepalese are very religious people. If garbage was thrown near God, or someone urinated near God, it was considered a sin and would not be accepted or tolerated.

Though this was a very clever idea to stop trash from being thrown on the streets and from people urinating wherever they feel like, it saddens me that we have to use the idea of religion and God to stop man from committing horrible crimes like these. Don’t humans have common sense? Don’t they know that doing these things helps no one? They only harm the environment and make people uncomfortable … especially with the smell. So if I had to choose something to ban in the world, it would be a race between throwing garbage on the streets and urinating everywhere. But I feel that it is more important to look at the environmental aspect than something that merely disturbs us. I’m not saying that urinating on the streets should be allowed, I’m just saying that throwing garbage on the streets is a much more serious crime.

The garbage left on the streets will not be picked up for many days, even weeks. The smell disturbs passer bys and is just not something that anyone needs to smell. I don’t think anyone has committed such a crime to deserve smelling rotten garbage. But health concerns are involved as well. Bacteria accumulate and diseases can easily be spread. Many can get sick and those in contact will be affected as well. Banning garbage does harm to no one anyone and should not be tolerated; instead it should be banned.