I remember as a little kid being nervous about spitting on the ground because somewhere in my brief social education I was told that it was illegal. Whether that was true or not, I have no idea. But still to this day whenever I contemplate hocking a loog, I ask myself if it's really necessary, or right, or appropriate.
It's a small, probably meaningless, act, but nonetheless, every time I spit, a little conversation about social appropriateness runs through my head.
I bring this up because I get borderline nauseaus when someone tosses a cig butt onto the ground. Butt tossing has become something that people don't even think twice about anymore. Whereas I used to think before every time (maybe a slight exaggeration) I spat, I can't imagine that people actually rationalize their decision to dispose of their waste so casually and carelessly. If they did, if they actually took time to ask themselves if throwing their butt on the ground was their best option, then why did they choose "Yes"? What other option was worse than that?
This is important because I don't believe people think about decisions as small as this anymore. I don't believe that most smokers take time to decide what to do with their butts any more than a knee decides to do when tapped with a pointy hammer. Littering has become second nature, almost a motor reflex of sorts.
It's a small, probably meaningless, act, but nonetheless, every time I spit, a little conversation about social appropriateness runs through my head.
I bring this up because I get borderline nauseaus when someone tosses a cig butt onto the ground. Butt tossing has become something that people don't even think twice about anymore. Whereas I used to think before every time (maybe a slight exaggeration) I spat, I can't imagine that people actually rationalize their decision to dispose of their waste so casually and carelessly. If they did, if they actually took time to ask themselves if throwing their butt on the ground was their best option, then why did they choose "Yes"? What other option was worse than that?
This is important because I don't believe people think about decisions as small as this anymore. I don't believe that most smokers take time to decide what to do with their butts any more than a knee decides to do when tapped with a pointy hammer. Littering has become second nature, almost a motor reflex of sorts.
(---)
A friend mentioned a conversation he had with a friend of his, recently, on a drive while smoking a cigarette. He said he'd never taken much thought to people's decision to casually toss a spent butt out the window when finished, but felt compelled to advise his copilot not to. They found an empty water bottle and made good use of it.
The seemingly insignificant scene resulted in a lengthy conversation about waste and polution between two people who'd never engaged in such a conversation before. It seemed for that one moment, a mind had been changed. My friend and I wondered what his companion did the next time he was in the car, smoking a cig. Did their previous drive have any lasting impressions, or did the next cig find a place on the curb?
I guess that's the only hope we can all have as warriors against ignorance and apathy: the Wayne's World Effect. It's the hope that if we convince one person, then they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends. It's the same way we got into this mess in the first place; someone convinced someone else that one thing was right and they believed it.
Damn there's a lot of $h!t to clean up.
The seemingly insignificant scene resulted in a lengthy conversation about waste and polution between two people who'd never engaged in such a conversation before. It seemed for that one moment, a mind had been changed. My friend and I wondered what his companion did the next time he was in the car, smoking a cig. Did their previous drive have any lasting impressions, or did the next cig find a place on the curb?
I guess that's the only hope we can all have as warriors against ignorance and apathy: the Wayne's World Effect. It's the hope that if we convince one person, then they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends. It's the same way we got into this mess in the first place; someone convinced someone else that one thing was right and they believed it.
Damn there's a lot of $h!t to clean up.
1 comment:
Thanks for the comment; I'll gladly return the favor. It's funny you bring up this topic, for I think about it just about everyday on my long commute home, for not a day passes where I don't see multiple a$$holes tossing butts onto the highway. There was a moment a few weeks ago where I wittnessed so many butts bouncing past me down the road that I felt I was driving through some horribly strange and dirty storm; it was surreal.
I'm writing this at work; I just wandered over to the front window of my store; from this vantage point I can see: a plastic cup, some sort of candy wrapper, and various small pieces of plastic. What goes through ones mind when he or she decides to use the world as his or her personal trash bin, I do not know. It is saddening and maddening, and sometimes, the apathy of the F@#$%@# that cannot wait to find a trash can makes me want to screem. Sometime last year, at the store I used to work at, I arrived one morning to find, sitting in the parking lot, the remains of two McDonalds meals, complete with extra-large drink cups. WTF!!!!
As usual, I'm not sure what to do to make people get the point...
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