Sometimes I look at my posts after I'm done, and wonder if I could have said it better. What I've been trying to get across here isn't an original idea. I didn't come up with it, I'm just trying to get other people to consider it. It's something I've been doing for awhile now, trying to shame people into taking their garbage with them.

There are other people doing the same thing. Last week I met a guy who stands near the path when litterers are leaving. He tells (not asks) them not to leave without their trash if he sees them littering. He stands his ground, and people listen.

That might not work in every case, or be the wisest choice in all situations, but we gotta start somewhere. I think the shame that used to be attached to doing something wrong, or inconveniencing someone, has evaporated from a large segment of our society.

If people have no problem dumping their kids dirty diapers in the Wal-mart parking lot, how can we expect them to pick up a clam bag or worm box at the beach?

The answer, at least in my mind, is we need to bring back a sense of public shame for actions that affect others. It would be delusional to think we could affect everybody. There will still be slobs, and we will pick up after them if we want to keep a place respectable for all fishermen to use.

But if a beach is filled with guys, one group litters, and you have 9 or 10 people telling them to pick it up, or not come back, I think people would get the message quick. Multiply that by the 10 or 15 popular spots in an area, and I think you would see a difference.

Maybe it's crazy, maybe you think it'll never happen, but it ain't gettin any better all the years I've been seeing it. We gotta start somewhere.