Bottles and plastic bags on a lawn in east Dearborn, March 18.

As an Arabic saying puts it, “tomorrow the snow will melt and the field will be revealed.” That quote demonstrates the truth’s ability to eventually manifest itself through barriers of falsehood. 

In east Dearborn the snow melted last week, but the truth that the fields revealed is not flattering.

Our lawns, parks and streets are covered with plastic bags, empty bottles, cigarette butts and all sorts of garbage that had been hiding in the snow like dirt under the rug. It is unsanitary, ugly and unacceptable. It reflects terribly on us as a community. 

Our streets are an extension of our homes and our homes are an extension of ourselves. When we litter in our street and keep them dirty, we paint a filthy image of our neighborhoods and our community. 

East Dearborn is extravagant. Our cafes and hookah bars are filled with young men and women draped in the latest designer clothes. Brand new cars often decorate our driveways. When it comes to our looks and personal belongings, we are concerned with appearances; yet our neighborhoods look like garbage bins exploded in their midst. 

The lawns and parks and streets belong to us. It is our responsibility to clean them. Visitors see us through our environment. It is our responsibility to present a clean image of our surroundings.

Our community organizations are in a place where they can organize neighborhood clean ups. But any positive change starts on the individual level. The transformation of the weather is a festive time; we can celebrate it by making our streets more pleasing to the eye and leading clean ups on our blocks.

However, prevention is always preferable to treatment. Before we clean up, we must stop littering. We must convince our children and our community that garbage belongs in the garbage bins, not scattered about the neighborhood.

-Ali Harb is a Dearborn resident and a reporter for The Arab American News.