The Cigarette Test

Cigarettes are perhaps the perfect experiment to see if humans can overcome their own self destruction. Now, I see people smoking EVERYWHERE — in cars, in public, at events, and everywhere they can.

Even though smoking is dangerous to the individual, is a major cause of fires, and endangers the health of other people in the vicinity, millions of people still do it.

The tobacco farmers like it. The senators and congresspersons of tobacco states likes it. And smokers appear to REALLY like it.

I spent a few days last week in Phoenix, AZ, where smokers have one month left to smoke in restaurants before a law goes into effect. As I was having dinner Tuesday night I noticed the smoker people — at the bars and at their booths. They were smoking one white stick after the other.

Why do people do it?

• It's too hard to quit.
• I'm young, I'll quit when I'm older.
• I like it, and what I do is no one else's business. It's my "lifestyle" choice.
• I'll gain weight if I quit.

And the list goes on. The point is that smokers will come up with dozens of excuses and rationalizations to continue their self-destructive habit.

So, if we can't even get people to stop smoking, how will we get humanity to start living sustainably?

Frankly, I don't know the answer. According to the American Heart Association:

In the United States, an estimated 25.5 million men (24.1 percent) and 21.5 million women (19.2 percent) are smokers. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

Wow, that's a lot of people. Every day I notice them flicking their nasty butts on sidewalks, out the windows of their cars, etc.. In fact, cigarette butts and packaging are a prime source of litter.

Quite frequently someone ahead of me in traffic will flick their little butt out the window. I often honk at them and give them a dirty look. One day some good 'ol boy is going to whip my butt, but that's okay with me. It really pisses me off when smokers think they have a "right" to litter our Planet. I get resentful when I have to pick up the nasty butts (often with lipstick on them) from my front yard and curb. I mean, why do I have to pick up someone else's life-destroying garbage?

So, when I see smokers out in traffic, puffing in the smoke, blowing the crap out their nose, and throwing their butts, wrappers, and boxes everywhere, I say to myself:

These are NOT the people who will help save the world.

No. Rather they are addicts and prisoners to the greatest corporate marketing scam of all time. They are slaves to the tobacco companies, and all they are able to do is destroy — they destroy their lungs, their heart, their loved ones, and the environment around them. And meanwhile, the farmers and tobacco firms get their money.

Is this a model for sustainability? Nope. Will humanity win the battle against the tobacco cartels and their millions of consumer slaves? I hope so.

I do appreciate the efforts of government and many churches to address this worldwide pandemic. But at the same time, we must come down harder on the murderous corporations that push the tobacco poison, and we must provide more education and rehabilitation to the tobacco victims.

In my vision of the future, humans won't kill themselves with cigarettes. In effect, this is a form of violence to one's self, and it has got to go.