Just Follow the Trash

Pollutions, caused by tourists!!! Translated…

From the UDN papers, the famous “God’s Tribe”, Smangus, has a waterfall made of garbage, it’d made God cry.

I couldn’t help, but remember an incident from twenty years ago, as I hiked up the tallest peak in Taiwan, the Jade Mountain. Back then, I was taking the students from the students of Yongfeng High School in Taoyuan on the treks, and, those who were interested needed to pass a physical test of walking 20,000steps, then, they can be considered.

trash over here…

As the school gave us the banners to go. The very first day, we’d arrived at the highest school in Taiwan—the Hsiang Ling Middle School. This highest above sea level school, was close to the entry of the Jade Mountain’s Tartarjia. As we arrived, we’d first gone to the temple of the mountain deity to offer our respects, and we’d learned of the five respects of hiking too:

First: be close to the mountains.

Second: Respect the mountains.

Third: Clean up the trash we took to the mountains.

Fourth: Keep quiet as we hiked through the trails.

Fifth: Prohibiting the things we’re to do while hiking.

Sometimes, the mountains needed to lock down, to take a break; and those who’d polluted the mountains will be banned from them.

I was in my fifties back then, I couldn’t match the pace of the younger generations of students, I was the second to last to arrive to the peaks. The last was the school’s disciplinary instructor, Hsieh. I felt lost, and asked him, how do we keep going, when we can’t see anything through the fogs up , ahead? He’d replied, just follow the trash. And I’d asked him, where the rest stops were? He’d answered, the places where there’s the most accumulation of trash. And naturally, following the trash, we’d finally, gotten caught up with the rest of the team, such an enlightenment from God.

trash over there…since WHEN is this a trash dump???  Oh yeah, since people were here!!! Photo from online…

Some twenty years had gone by, the trash station became a trash waterfall. And, those who entered into the mountains need to clean up after themselves, to respect the mountains, and to TAKE the trash they came with down the mountains.

Yup, this, is how polluted this place got, because so many people tried to conquer this mountain, and, where there are people, there will be, TRASH, and here, there’s, a TON of it, because those without the courtesies don’t take their trash with them as they go, they just, leave their trash wherever they’d, produced them, polluting this naturally, originally, clean environment, and now, this hiking trail is, paved with T-R-A-S-H, all because of those who hiked it, had absolutely NO any ETHICS of keeping the environment cleanly!

and, there’s, trash EVERYWHERE…and this used to be a TOURIST attraction site too!!!  Photo from online…