I am Hamid. Today I will share an incident from my life that taught me a lesson. When I was seven years old, I loved two things the most: my cat, Mano, and chocolates. I used to keep them with me most of the time. Each time I ate a bar of chocolate, I never looked for a dustbin to throw the wrapper in. I threw the wrappers everywhere, even on the pavement below my window. I never realized that I was littering the environment. My parents often warned me against this, but I never cared about it. Many children, who used to play on the pavement, were tired of my habit of littering. One day, as usual, I threw the wrapper of my chocolate out the window. Then I went downstairs to see where my cat was and found it at the door of my house, sniffing at something. I asked myself, “What is it doing here?” I went near it and, shockingly, saw her eating that wrapper. I began screaming, “Papa, Papa, Papa, please come; Mano is choking! Papa, my Mano will die; please come!!!” My father and I rushed Mano to the doctor, who, thankfully, managed to get the wrapper out of Mano’s throat and save her life.
We returned home after an hour; I was feeling unfortunate. My father looked at me and said, “What happened to Mano could happen to any other cat or bird. Sometimes, our carelessness may cause serious harm to others.” He also explained to me a Hadith of our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), “Cleanliness is the half of our faith.”
So we should always be careful in our actions. Allah Almighty has blessed us with a beautiful place to live in; thus, we should always try to keep it neat and clean by partaking in various initiatives like cleaning drives and awareness walks. Moreover, we should educate others to make good use of recycle-bins and always keep litter bags in our vehicles. If there is no dustbin in a park, we must keep our trash in our bags in an extra shopping bag.
Moral
Do not drop litter; always clear up after a tour, picnic, or party.
