Littering = An Unhealthy Mindset, Why?

I will not apologize if the title above sounds too harsh to you, because this is the reality.

Whether due to a lack of waste disposal facilities or an inability to pay sanitation fees, rivers, springs, and open fields are used as dumping grounds by some people. The bad news is that there are quite a lot of them.

If only the things we used every day were also made from materials that decomposed easily, waste might not be such a major problem. The landslide of garbage that caused fatalities at a landfill in Indonesia some time ago sounded surreal.

On the other hand, some people try to deal with accumulating waste by burning it. A decision that ultimately has the potential to invite fire hazards and respiratory problems.

I believe most of us already know about the waste problem and have been equipped with enough information about it. Yet the urge to get rid of the unpleasant thing called waste as quickly as possible seems to be too strong.

Some of the situations mentioned above show our tendency to seek the easiest way out, even when that method is discouraged and repeatedly condemned as harmful. So where does all that knowledge disappear when we are faced with waste that needs to disappear simply because we do not want our comfort disturbed?

Illustration: Mount Arjuna's scenic view, Dau, Malang.

A Lost Soul

By now, I think you may have a slightly better understanding of why I consider littering, or destroying waste through easy but dangerous methods, to be a mild symptom that something is not going right within us.

Insisting on doing something that contradicts what we know indicates a long-standing conflict within ourselves. An inner contradiction that we cannot resolve, yet one that manifests itself in our everyday behavior.

The medical world refers to such conditions as depression, schizophrenia, stress, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and so on. Such states of mental health are also familiar to followers of Indigenous Siberian Faith.

From their perspective, a tragic and traumatic event has taken away the sufferer's happiness forever. The sufferer is aware of what they are feeling, but the shock is so overwhelming that their soul refuses to return.

The trigger for depression itself usually begins with violations of social norms and unwritten rules, or with excessive exploitation of nature. Seeing a polluted river or a burned forest, for example, can create deep distress that gradually erodes one's sense of calm and peace.

Preparing offerings to present to one's ancestors is considered one way to overcome these negative feelings. The sufferer trains themselves to regain their spirit through the loving and sincere act of arranging the offerings.

Breaking the ‘Vicious Cycle’

If a dirty river makes us feel uncomfortable, then why—or what lies behind—the decision to throw waste into a river in the first place? When our feelings become negative because of someone else's actions carried out in public, why do we end up doing the same thing ourselves?

These are just a few of the questions that should arise in our minds before the damage spreads and its consequences grow.

As someone who has experienced mental health problems in the past, I assure you that the best medicine comes from our own determination to rise again. The winding roads and wrong turns are indeed things we must—and will—face as consequences of the mistakes we made in earlier phases of our lives. (dswas).