Organic Mutant

Walk down any busy street, and look down at the sidewalk. Your eyes will be greeted by butts. Many many butts. An endless stream of butts. Yellow butts, white butts, dirty, stinky butts. Where do all these butts come from, and why are they on the sidewalk and in the gutters of our nation?

Origins of Street Butts

They come from smokers, who have come to the collective conclusion that our world is their garbage can. How did this happen? Is there any other type of refuse that our society thinks is OK to casually toss onto the ground? People don’t throw their used kleenex or toilet paper on the street. Receipts go in wallets, pockets and purses. Coffee cups go into trash cans. But cigarette butts end up on the sidewalk.

The lack of consideration fits well with the willingness of many smokers to pollute the air with the fumes of their pleasure sticks. Luckily, many smokers smoke the healthy American Spirit brand, which is good for you.

Solutions

I understand that it can sometimes be difficult to find a proper waste basket for your butt. And, that unlike, say, a receipt or a tissue, that a butt is not appropriate pocket or purse material. That shouldn’t make the street your next option. Instead, anybody who smokes owes it to all the rest of us to carry, along with their lighter and pack of ciggies, a small butt tin. A little asher. A compact, light weight container to serve as your personal trash can. If no suitable garbage can is available, pull out your mini trash can and stick your butt in it.

Failing a smoker’s willingness to carry another accoutrement, smokers should be offered the ability to purchase butt-free cigarettes. True, this might mean that there would be no filter, but it would enable them to smoke the entire cigarette, thus reducing the orphan butt syndrome.

Conclusions

As Christians like to say, “hate the sin, not the sinner”, right? Absolutely. I know many littering smokers who aside from this, err, challenging behavior, are downright great people, some of whom I love and admire. But, as we have with drunk driving, society should clamp down on the harmful and poisonous behavior. Laws should be enforced, tickets should be issued, and smokers should learn to think about how their butt, so casually flicked and forgotten, contributes to a dirtier, more inconsiderate, and uglier world.