Lady Bird Johnson

Although I have been a member of Keep Wimberley Beautiful for over twenty-five years and I have written a column for over the same number of years, I never really thought about what the word “BEAUTIFICATION” means or encompasses. Just this week, I ran across a quote from Texas’ favorite and best known beautification citizen, Lady Bird Johnson. Here is her quote: “Though the word beautification makes the concept sound merely cosmetic, it involves much more: clean water, clean air, clean roadsides, safe waste disposal, and preservation of valued old landmarks as well as great parks and wilderness areas. To me...beautification means our total concern for the physical and human quality we pass on to our children and the future.”

YES! YES! YES! This is what Keep Wimberley Beautiful is all about. For years, we have tried to preach and practice the principles of what the above definition of beautification is. It gets really discouraging when we feel the message is neither heard nor practiced after all these years. Just over this summer, it seems to me that the highway litter problem has worsened. We have not even had a Saturday Market Day crowd to blame it on. What is causing it? Where does the litter come from? Why can’t litter be confined to truck beds and even cars in a safe and secure way until delivered to the proper waste disposal facility? Why do we tear down so much of the old when we could often reuse and recycle so much of it?

I know efforts are being made to reduce harmful emissions into our air and water, but there is still so much opposition to efforts to do this. How can we help? How can we do better?

If we all give these concerns our very best thoughts and sincere best efforts, perhaps we can find new ways to accommodate and promote every day the message of beautification as left to us by our own Queen of Beautification, Lady Bird Johnson.