By Ron Beasley….
Cigarette smokers have got to be the most inconsiderate people living in our society today. They have no consideration for anybody but themselves and their obnoxious habit. But they don’t see it as a habit, they see smoking a cigarette as their right.
Cigarette smokers, without regard for what they are doing to themselves and without a care for the environment, invariably toss their finished butt out the window as they drive down the street. They have no concern that the plastic micronite filter is not biodegradable and will simply lie on the side of the roadway for months. These filters can and do kill wild animals. In Colorado, some residents post homemade signs that read: “Butts kill deer — dispose of your butts safely.” It seems that a wild deer, not the brightest animal, will eat a plastic cigarette butt and it winds up clogging the animal’s intestines and killing it in a very slow and agonizing death.
Cigarette smokers, when they have exhausted all the cigarettes in a pack, will toss the empty carton out the car window without regard to the fact that they are littering the landscape. They know that you and I will pick up their waste for them. And, strangely enough, we do.
I went on my morning jog through the park recently and then walked the long block from the park back to my house. A plastic bag blew into my path and I decided to use it and pick up trash along the side of the street as I walked home. So, what did I find in that short oneblock walk? Certainly, many discarded plastic drink bottles and a lot of fast food wrappers, but by far the greatest amount of debris that I picked up was made up of cigarette butts and discarded cigarette packs.
Smokers, please! If you still have not been enlightened by all the radio and television commercials that plainly tell you that smoking cigarettes will cause cancer and ultimately kill you, and you simply must continue to puff on these deadly little cylinders of death, then put out your finished butts and dispose of them in your ashtray or trash can, or wait and dispose of them when you get home or to your office. Don’t just toss your finished cigarette out the window. And if you find yourself with an empty cigarette pack, throw it in a proper waste disposal can; don’t just throw it out the window.
If you want to smoke, then fine, do it! Go ahead and pay $7 a pack for those deadly little tubes of nicotine and saltpeter. But, please! Take care of your own waste. Frankly, some of us are just sick and tired of cleaning up after you.
