By: Jaclyn Wlosek

Can you smell it? That puff from the cigarette the man is smoking in front of you has just blown into your face. The man continues to smoke as you inhale the filthy air. Then he does the one move that every smoker seems to do on this campus: the tap and flip of the hand to toss the cigarette butt to the ground.

Yay litter.

It makes you wonder how someone could be so selfish in their ploy to kill himself with cigarettes that he seems to be so indifferent about nature and society.

Why must the smokers on Akron’s campus go so far as to not only smoke in public places but to toss their still smoking trash to the ground? It’s appalling and, if you take a look around campus, much more noticeable than you thought. Do the campus a favor, smokers of Akron! The world is not an ashtray!

Why do they do it? Maybe the all-encompassing feeling of being a rebel while smoking has something to do with it. Is it possible that placing the cigarette in the proper trash receptacle involves obeying “the man” or “the system”? Has Akron become yet another stereotype of America’s society – lazy? I’m sure the five seconds spent walking to the trash can could not possibly make a smoker any more winded than smoking has already made him.

In my opinion, both concepts contradict each other. Being lazy is bowing down to “the man”; it is fulfilling a stereotype for America. By littering with your rebel cigarette, you are actually conforming (Isn’t that food for thought!). But honestly, both types of individuals are subservient to the American stereotype.

Next time you are on campus, count how many smokers you see. I saw at least a dozen in one day. Half were rebels and half were lazy. It’s something to think about the next time you see that man smoking his brand or the next time you light up.