Our country was famous for mountains and streams because of their beauty a long time ago. Most streams and mountains coexisted in Korea--clear streams flowed around blue mountains. So we used to think how beautiful they were!
        However, nowadays, our beautiful nature has been destroyed by many people. People cut down many trees on the mountains for their own benefit. The places where trees stood are filled with buildings. Also clear streams are polluted by waste water--factory wastes, livestock waste water and sewer water. But it seems that people don't consider these to be serious environmental problems. Even though we witness other people destroying the environment, we often keep silent rather than give our opinion.
        There are the beautiful Wang Bang Mountains between Tongduchon and Pochon. These mountains have clear streams like other mountains. People spend their holidays there. I must always go over the Wang Bang Mountains to attend school or to go home by bus from Tongduchon to Pochon or from Pochon to Tongduchon.
        I always think whenever I go over the mountains how beautiful they are! When I go across them to attend school after spending a weekend at home, I see the large amount of trash that is scattered here and there. I think, "When will people remove that trash from there?" Then I blame people who threw away that trash without consciousness of nature preservation. I find the trash whenever I go across the mountains. Because nobody picks up the trash, it is still on the ground.
        On the route our bus takes, the bus always stops at a rest area which is located at the mid-slope of a mountain. At that time, the bus driver cleans up his bus. There is a bucket in the bus. The passengers throw away their trash--bottles, papers, cans or snack wrappers and so on--in it. The driver takes it away to clean the bus. But what really happens? He throws the trash in the stream. The trash floats on the stream scattering here and there. And then he washes his dirty mop in the stream as if nothing had happened. After he has done this, he brings the bucket, which is full of water, back to the bus. I saw this scene with my own eyes a few weeks ago. But I also keep silent now as I did at that time, because I don't have courage to criticize his wrong behaviour. He is still cleaning up his bus in that way. It seems to me as if he considers his own bus to be more important than our environment.
        The day after I first saw this, I met my friend in the bus. I asked him, “If you witnessed other people's wrong behaviour, for example, if you saw other people throw away trash where it was not permitted, what would you do? Would you tell them that their behaviour was wrong?"
        He answered, "No, I would keep silent, because I wouldn't want to fight with them. I would avoid fighting with them."
        We know the bus driver's behaviour is wrong, but we don't have courage to complain about it. We know that the environment is being destroyed by people too, but we only look on as spectators. I think that my keeping silent is just as wrong as the bus driver's behaviour of polluting the stream without feeling guilty. If we always just look at the environmental pollution which is happening around us without doing anything about it, our nature will be destroyed continually. Eventually our life will be destroyed too.