ESSAY

 CLEAN COUNTRY, HEALTHY CITIZENS

      Ever since 1957, Independence Day, our forefathers built this free country with their own efforts. Their sweats and tears, still mark this country. The pain they struggle to overcome the difficulty. The hope they have just to create a country where their children and grandchildren can live happily. They willingly sacrifice their own soul and body to give us this. This is the country they will to us, the heir of their legacy. This is the result of their sacrifice. A free country for their children and grandchildren. Our ancestors took care of this country as if they were protecting their own life just to make sure we can live in it and as sign of appreciation we must also do the same towards their heritage.

  Before the country was free, everything inside it was not much to expect. The road was horrible, houses were made of wood, the environment wasn’t really in good shape but as time flow, everything changes. Now in the 21^st century, the road was fixed, house became condos, apartment, modern residential areas was established   and the environment was at its best. As time passed by, the people managed to think to make their life better by using their brilliant brain to improve their way of living and fix their past mistakes. The people are able to move forward and the key for this success is a clean country. As the country is clean, healthy people were born and as a result they can generate amazing ideas and genius invention.

   As the saying goes “Cleanliness is next to goodliness“. Parents usually make a good start by always teaching their children about cleanliness and we are all hard-wired to that matter since we were born. Ever since a child, we were bathed with soaps and shampoos by our mother and put on diapers when we were still a baby. As we grow older, they decided to blood of using the restrooms, wash our hands and use tissues or a handkerchief. These are the first step towards cleanliness and self-hygiene. This is a great leap forward. Other than that, we are not only ordered to keep our body clean but also to our environment as well. Homes are always neat and tidy so that the family members are comfortable and live a healthy life. Besides, bacteria, germs, and dust that could cause infection and illness. We are obliged to follow the rule of cleanliness, just like how the parents teach their young.

  

   Nowadays, even though the people are aware of the danger that may occur to them and to the country if they didn’t pay attention, they still take those things lightly but no need to push the panic button, as the Malaysia Heath Department will not let those things to happen without taking an action. The ‘Cleanliness Campaign” was launched specially to wake the citizens up about the importance of a clean country. As Rome wasn’t built in a day, the people still show their less interest in it but not all of it. Some of the people aware of it and showed their feeling through social applications such as YouTube, Facebook and blogs to increase the support about cleanliness awareness.

  

    Dengue fever is one of the famous diseases that occur from the unclean environment. Dengue comes from a mosquito named Aides. They breed in dirty and contaminated water. For examples, behind the tires, under a plant pot and also in the drains. The scientist these days still failed to find the cure for the disease. The health department recommends the people and launched another campaign “Prevention is better than cure “. We need to make sure our house compounds are clean and safe so that our family can be saved from any harm and avoid other unnecessary things.

    Keeping our country clean doesn’t just stop there, we could keep plants inside our house. Trees and plants are the best at cleaning the environment. They are the only living things in the world that produces oxygen and we humans are the most carbon dioxide producers. As the trees consume all the carbon dioxide, they give us oxygen so that we can live and give us shades for us to rest from the sun and keep our earth cool. Next, we can also plant more trees around the cities and residential areas to make sure the people there could live at ease.

 

   Furthermore, a clean surrounding will also make life better. There are a lot of ways to keep our country clean. For example, we could use bicycle to go to work or school and walk to groceries. It may take times and use more energy but for the sake of our future, little sacrifices have to be made. Besides, this method can also make our body healthier by getting rid of unwanted waste through our sweats. Other than that, we could use the public transportation or car pool to reduce carbon monoxide that is polluting our air. Next, before leaving the house make sure to bring along Polly bag so as whatever we eat its peal or the plastic packing‘s just dump it into the dustbin.

  More than that don’t litter in our country! Can we litter in someone else country? Of course not, as a person that have a good mind we must not litter anywhere as we like especially to smokers. In the old days only men smoke but now even the women smoke openly. It is common for men after having a meal at a café or a restaurant, the urges to smoke makes them smoke openly and as a result the cigarettes they use are thrown to the ground. After smoking please throw the cigarette butts into a dustbin that is prepared at public.

    Stop open burning! Do not burn your waste anywhere you wish. Most people usually burn at their backyard. Studies show that the black smokes produces from open burning can harm our ozone layers and make them thinner. This is what cause global warming. The solution to overcome this kind of problem is to plant the garbage inside the ground or throw it into the dustbin that is prepared by the government.

       Is it important to keep our country clean? Why? The answer to that is simple. It is because we want to live a healthy life but are we doing a great job at keeping the country at top shape? It is our duty to take care of our planet. We could at least contribute some efforts such as practicing the 3Rs. Our planet is on the verge of dying, it is up to us to make changes. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle could help our mother nature to survive. Next, we must also make changes about all the gas consumption for cars or all fuel smokes from industries that affect our environment. This must be stopped as soon as possible! The rate of global warming is increasing every second if we didn’t do anything about it. The industries that produce smokes should have at least used a filter so the air will not be contaminated. The government should also show some actions by giving warnings and charging them for hurting the earth. We must take action now to make sure our country clean and safe so that the future generation can live in it like we did.

      In addition, if we still acting like global warming is not a big problem then it is a huge mistake. Global warming can cause a lot of things. For example, the rising sea level can cause flooding of coastal area, wash beaches away, cover the agricultural land fields and push millions of people out of their homes. These kinds of things are something that we need to avoid.

      

    Moreover, to achieve a great country, the people must also be great. People today are getting too fat due to over eating unhealthy food that contain chemical substances, colorings and fats such a fast food from The McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and B & W. This problem may lead the citizens to the worst kind situation. Among the diseases that the Malaysian usually encounters are diabetes and obesity.  Those are the disease that comes from over eating, so it is important for everyone to spend at least five minutes everyday to do some light exercise .The government also encourage people to exercise by building parks with equipment for exercising. Then, the construction of the Futsal One Malaysia court in every city and even at the villages. The court is painted blue as the symbol of unity between the people. This solution can help fellow Malaysians to reduce the numbers of calories and fats inside them and help the unity between the people that came from different religions, races and background.

     Do we know cleanliness? Yes, we do but the real question is do we understand cleanliness. The cleanliness campaign was launched many years ago but still the statistic shown proves that the people do not care. Thousands of flyers, brochures pamphlets and sign boards were given, not to mention millions of dollars invested in the project just to wake up the people. We all keep saying we know cleanliness but we still throw tissues and paper on the street, leave the bottles at the sidewalks and tell other people that it is okay. The question is do we even understand cleanliness to begin with? No, we don’t. Why? Because we are too lazy to pay attention to the little thing that we see. This attitude needs to be fixed as fast as possible. We all need to change our point of view in cleanliness so that we can proudly call ourselves healthy Malaysians. There is nothing impossible if we believe in ourselves, the word itself say I’m possible.

        In a nutshell, everybody must work hard and work together so that the dream that we want, a clean country and healthy people, will come true. The journey there may take times and as everyone knows patience is bitter but do not forget that patience is also a virtue. It is difficult to be patient but to waste the rewards for patience is worse .This is a country with different races, even though we are not having the same skin, eyes, and hair. We are different in religion and do not share the same faiths but we stand on the same ground, breathe the same air, and we are below the same flag. We have our differences but we share the same vision and mission. That vision is the proof that we are one. One country, one nation, one Malaysia. That is who we are.