Smoking seems like an illogical thing to do if you ask me. If it were invented today it would most likely be declared illegal because it’s addictive, expensive, and harmful not only to those who choose to do it, but also the people around them. 11,000 people die each day because of tobacco related illnesses yet despite the overwhelming evidence proving that smoking is just a flat out stupid thing to do, people still take up the habit.
Smokers become immune to the fact that their clothes, their home, and their breath whiffs of stale cigarette smoke which is about as appealing as warm cup of out of date milk. But perhaps by similar programming non-smokers have also managed to develop an immunity to the downsides of smoking. This is never more evident than when one kisses a smoker and enjoys doing so despite the fact that such an activity is comparable to licking an ashtray.
I’ve got nothing against people who smoke. I even enjoy the occasional cigar myself from time to time (though actually inhaling the smoke would send me into convolutions). But there is one thing about smokers which I simply can’t abide. I’ll put up with breathing their second hand smoke, I’ll look past their stained teeth, I’ll ignore the illogical nature of their addiction, but I can’t excuse their propensity to discard that cigarette butt as if it will simply evaporate the moment it leaves their smoke stained finger tips.
It might sound petty, but this subject is at the centre of an ongoing dispute with me and the hairdressers who work in the shop below my apartment. At intervals throughout the day they stand by our shared back door and replenish their addiction before flicking away the cigarette butt without so much of second thought or pang of guilt for their blatant littering.
Even more annoying is the fact that despite the unsightly collection of soggy butts the girls deny all responsibility. If pressed by their boss to stop this antisocial behaviour they simply take to flicking the butts over the neighbors fence as if that is a fitting remedy to the problem.
When I caught one of the girls flicking her filter to the ground a few weeks back she exclaimed it was “no big deal.” “How would you like it if I came to your house and did that?” I asked. “I wouldn’t care.” She announced with the flippancy you might expect from a not especially bright girl barely out of her teenage years.
Knowing my position on the environment one of the girls informed me that disposing of their filters in this way was okay because the filters themselves were biodegradable. However filters are not biodegradable at all as they are made from plastic (acetate), though she refused to accept this fact even when presented with evidence.
But even if the filters were biodegradable my annoyance at their inconsiderate disposal on what is my doorstep is not diminished. None of the girls would consider tossing a drinks can to the ground in our shared yard so how then does a smoker conclude that disposing a butt in that way is any less unacceptable.
It is of course unfair to suggest that those who smoke are perhaps not as intellectually complete as those who don’t. But exactly how stupid does one have to be to consider that inhaling smoke through a plastic filter laced in toxins is a good idea in the first place?
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cigarettelitter.org
Litter Butt
4.5 trillion cigarette butts per year are littered in the USA.
Used cigarette butt for sale
Wrote the following comment on Nov 27, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Wow, I have never see that ad. It is pretty intense, and I believe successful in getting the point across.
I am not a smoker myself, but my husband is, and he often discards his butts behind a shrub in our landscaping. It is often a subject of debates between us.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 27, 2006 at 3:44 pm
I think my favorite part of the post was, “However filters are not biodegradable at all as they are made from plastic (acetate), though she refused to accept this fact even when presented with evidence.” hehehe… I can only imagine how that went.
My mom’s neighbor (she lives in two story apt., so his patio is her patio), keeps his cigarette budds in a water bottle on the porch. It’s absolutely nasty…. the bottle is filled with budds and brown tabacco water. I dont know why he keeps water in it, maybe to prevent a fire? but at least he’s keeping them all together…although throwing it away would be nice.Anyhow, maybe you should provide some water bottles for your downstairs neighbors, or a nice little trash can.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 27, 2006 at 5:15 pm
How about providing a bucket filled with sand. Attached to a stick protruding from the sand you could have a little sign simply saying R.I.P. Maybe they’d get the message then!
Wrote the following comment on Nov 27, 2006 at 11:55 pm
yeah, my friends always toss their cigarettes just anywhere. i never really have thought much about it, but that really isnt a great idea.
powerful video.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 28, 2006 at 12:44 am
I quit smoking a little over a year ago. I never smoked in the house or in the car.. and I always took an ashtray out to the patio with me. It’s amazing how bad the smell of cigarette smoke bothers me now. I have a friend who smokes and going to her house makes my stomach queasy from the smell.
I would think it would be up to the owner of the salon to provide an ashtray or something and make sure the mess gets swept up. I would ask him to anyway.
My mother just quit smoking after 45 years. I’m so proud of her.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 28, 2006 at 5:51 pm
my grandfather was a chain smoker before having a massive heartattack, dying on the operating table, then getting resuscitated. i have friends that smoke but it’s a nasty habit and i won’t even date a guy that smokes. if someone has a blanant disrespect for their health then they’ll have disrespect for mine as well.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 28, 2006 at 8:40 pm
I ordered a free poster that I’m going to put on the wall by the back door no matter how petty the smoking club think it is. You can see it here.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 12:40 am
I smoke, I like to smoke, but I do not smoke inside my house or around people who do not smoke…I will watch my butt.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 1:33 am
Okay Donna, I hope you won’t take this the wrong way if I ask this of you but I have a question. As a Christian you believe your body is a temple of the holy spirit. This is one of the reasons I’ve heard Christians give when they talk about refraining from sexual sin in that it is considered a sin against the body. So with that in mind isn’t smoking also a sin against the body, and if that’s the case how do you justify your habit/addiction?
I don’t ask this out of meanness or any motivation to make you feel in any way belittled. I ask this out of sincere curiosity that’s all.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 4:18 am
I will get back to you on this Simon…great question and it deserves a well thought out answer. I in no way feel belittled.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 4:50 am
My answer: Simon, I in no way feel a need to justify smoking. There is no man walking upon this earth (professing Christian or non-Christian), which is perfect, and there never will be until us Christians receive our glorified bodies. I have never been condemned by God because of smoking, smoking or not smoking has nothing to do with the salvation I received when I accepted Christ as my Lord and savior. I have favor with God because Jesus is my Lord, and nothing else. Acceptance does not come from anything other than the fact that I have made Jesus my Lord. God knows we are not perfect, and cannot make it on our own. God will be perfecting me until I leave this body, no man can put a limit upon God’s grace and mercy over me…because He loves me. Man has lists of “sins,†but God looks at the heart of man, and when He looks at me He sees Jesus in me. I have nothing without Jesus, I am nothing without Jesus, He accepts me as I am, if I could change things without Him I would do it…but I need Jesus to help me through each day. When I leave this earthly body there will be no addictions, sin or hindrances, and until that day I will keep pressing on, clinging to God, and praising Him for the salvation I have found in Jesus.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 4:59 am
I agree totally with you Simon.
Another thing that annoys me about smokers is the way they treat their habit as a normality of life. I will explain what I mean by this:
I work night shifts on a hospital ward which has a back garden for the patients to use and enjoy in the summer months. Now I know that all NHS hospitals are non-smoking but lets look past that for now. The smokers who work on our ward will nip out for a “quick ciggie” in the garden, but this will actually be with most smokers 2 cigarettes which takes up about 15 minutes. This can go on nearly every hour to hour and a half. They will then take their 90 minute break during the night, while us non-smokers get the 90 minute break and nothing more. It works aout that a smoker will get a total of 3 hours break!
I once went outside into the garden as it was very warm on the ward and one of the smokers had the nerve to say “Why are you standing outside doing nothing?”, I told her I was having a “quick breath of fresh air” and would come back inside in around 15 minutes. Needless to say she reported to the nurse so I gave the argument about the smokers going for their cigarettes, to which he said “But they NEED to have a cigarette”. I was aghast, I then said to the nurse (who is a smoker themselves) “Well I think you’ll find filling your lungs with oxygen is vastly more important than filling your lungs with carbon monoxide, tar and all sorts of other chemicals don’t you agree?”
Of course I’m not labelling every smoker, I worked with another nurse who was a smoker themselves and she said to the staff who smoked “You can either have your 90 minute break, or use those 90 minutes to have your cigarettes”, she was told that it was “unfair” and she replied by saying it was unfair that non-smokers get left to do work while the smokers skived off for 15 minutes to have a quick smoke every hour!
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 8:43 am
Thanks for the response Donna, I was interested in learning that. I’m not sure that someone who was involved in so called ‘sexual sin’ would get away with that answer, but it seems to me you might well have the right take on things there my friend. (I think the churches take on the sex issue is warped by the way).
Mike, great point mate! You know I was thinking that very thing the other day about the two smokers from the salon downstairs. I used to work for the University of Liverpool and I routinely took ciggie breaks with my friend Darryl even though I did not smoke myself. No one ever complained, but had they done so I would have made a stand.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 9:09 am
I was having coffee with my pastor one day, he mentioned that the “smoke break” before service (after Worship and before service or preaching)was getting longer every week. I told him that I did not like the “smoke break” before service, I felt it was encouraging people to smoke even more. My pastor said, “well, it doesn’t matter what you think!” He was offended that I did not like the break, and he is not even a smoker…I am a smoker and I did not like it…it seemed a strange response from him. I do not participate in the “smoke break” at church. Right now, the “smoke break” at church takes up about 15-20 minutes, I think that is ridiculous! And, it is hard getting everyone back into service. If I could not go 2 or 3 hours without a cigarette I would give it up!
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 9:17 am
Simon, I think “the take on the sex issue is warped” also. It seems many in the church are totally obsessed with thinking about sex…and it leads them into the trap they are so condemning of others for participating in. Maybe it isn’t the “church’s” take on sex”, but a few misguided individuals who wish to judge others.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 9:31 am
I’ve never heard of a church having a smoke break until just now Donna! :-) But you know, you could be right about those misguided individuals. The problem with them is that they are always the people who seem to speak for ‘the church’ because lets face it, sex is a huge deal with every church you ever come across.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 10:10 am
I always wonder who gave them the job of speaking for the “Church.” I didn’t. I am sure God gets a kick out of the foolishness of mans wisdom that comes out of the church. Many of the louder ones are just plain flaky! I wish to show as much grace and mercy as God has shown me. If they are in sin I just love them, in spite of their sin, I pray for them, and god walks them through changing their wants.
We are all on a journey. It would be great to go to a church where there are no people dealing with sexual sins, smoking, overeating, etc…but that church does not exist. Some churches might hide it, but it is there. I think I am getting sleepy, I am not thinking straight. I like knowing what I believe about things, no one is going to tell me what to believe, I read my Bible, study and read books by pastors and theologians, etc. I am just not content to sit back and let anyone tell me what to believe.
Wrote the following comment on Nov 29, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Simon, I have been thinking about what you said, “I’m not sure that someone who was involved in so called ’sexual sin’ would get away with that answer.” I think many Christians get involved in matters which do not concern them, I believe God is big enough to help anyone in any type sin, sexual or otherwise “work out their own salvation.” I believe Christians can many times hinder anothers walk with God. God is BIG! I lived with my husband for 4-years before I agreed to marry him…marriage scared me! My sister had been married 5 times, my Mother had been married 4 times…all I had ever seen of marriage was that men grew tired and found someone else (usually younger and prettier). I knew that marriage was a one-time thing for me…and I wanted to do it right. I had one daughter when I met my husband (Kim was 1 1/2 years old), and I had one child with Rusty before we were married (I was not a Christian). There are many reasons people get trapped into sin, but God is able to lead us to right conclusions if we will allow Him.