Citizenship Is A Job

I have lived in Philadelphia for the past six years. Sadly, I don't love living here.

I should. It offers a great deal of things that I like from a city. Everything I need from a house to a job to a doctor's office to a grocery store, etc. is all within walking distance. Beyond the necessities, there is still a great deal of ground to cover that is relatively safe to walk or ride a bike. I don't need a car. The weather doesn't bother me.

However, there are two things that ruin this city for me:
1) Too many people litter.
2) Too many other people defend the people in #1.

I'm not one to cling to statistics and survey results as absolute gauges of anything. I know that just because readers of Travel and Leisure just voted Philadelphia the second dirtiest city in the county, it doesn't mean that it really is. Can you really measure the level of filth in your city, neighborhood, etc. and measure it against another's filth? Likely not.

Still Philadelphia makes the list and it's ranked higher than last time. Plus this is not the first time that Philadelphia's reputation with litter has become a national news item. But what I find even more disturbing is the defensive comments of citizens here.

Paraphrasing what I've heard over the years:
F.U. Travel & Leisure.
That's life in the big city.
It used to be worse.
New York is dirty too.
What did you expect?

Here is what I expect:

For people to stop making excuses and blaming it on poor education. (Who doesn't know littering is wrong? The problem is apathy.)
Or blaming it on the homeless rooting through garbage cans. (How do you know if someone is really homeless unless you know them. Besides I've seen men in suits urinate in public in broad daylight.)
To stop thinking just because it's better, it's now OK. (Trust me, it needs to be a lot better to get to an OK level.)
To stop comparing yourself to other cities. (Yes, New York has litter. Yes, litter happens especially in density living. But as much time I've spent in NYC, proportionately, I have not witnessed as much blatant littering there as I have here.)
To stop getting defensive when someone brings up your faults.
And...for everyone to do their jobs at citizens. Yes, that's right being a citizen is a job.

It's a job because it is hard. You have to be on your best behavior. You have to follow laws, especially ones designed for safety reasons. You have to be respectful of other people and their property. You have to follow instructions from authority figures. You have to put forth effort everyday and believe you are bettering yourself and every other citizen around you. Plus, when you're called on the carpet for poor citizenship, don't prove their point by exclaiming, "F.U."

To Philadelphia: Travel and Leisure isn't singling you out. Travel and Leisure is doing you a favor. No one likes litter, especially me. I think it's a sign of apathy and doing a poor job as citizens. Hence take the survey for what it is, a survey. Then take a serious look around and say, "as a city we can do better and we will do better." It's hard work. But once we change how we deal with litter, the city will look great. It will feel great. Lastly, you'll feel great because you made it happen.

Citizenship is a job. But it has a great benefits package.