To The Editor:

I read in the Tuesday edition of a local daily paper that our state Department of Transportation collects an average of 3,000 dumpsters of trash every year that has been strewn along Connecticut's roadways. The article made no mention of enforcement of a litter ban or accompanying fines, just urged readers to be more responsible.

As I've said before, a safe and healthy society can not only be governed by the enforcement of laws, rules, and regulations, but also must largely be governed by norms. These are the unwritten societal rules that tend to keep us acting in ways that are good. They are upheld by us when we show our distaste for things that should not be done, whether they be illegal or not.

A good many of today's societal problems can be linked to a breakdown in the individual's willingness and ability to enforce these norms. From my view this deterioration has accelerated pretty dramatically in the past decade. When we see bad behavior, we are less and less likely to say something for fear of the impression we'd leave, or response we'd get. This is entirely understandable given our current climate. So, let's all focus on what we can control: our own individual behavior.

Two things I was repeatedly told growing up were that you should never do anything that you wouldn't want everyone to do also, and that you should always leave a place tidier than it was when you arrived. If those who are inclined to be lazy litterers thought more about the former, they'd probably not be so careless. And if more of us made a habit of tidying up after other people, it might shame the lazy litterer into better behavior. There are still many people who think like me. On this Earth Day (April 22) my hope is that we will someday become the norm.

Randi Kiely

Newtown