When we break a bad habit, we have a tendency to look with disdain on those who are still "under the influence". Smoking is one such habit, and for those of us who have kicked it, we may say some pretty awful things about the people who spend a lot of money on cigarettes, smell awful, have yellowed skin, cough incessantly or throw their butts on the ground and expect others to pick them up.
I remember my time in the military, particularly in basic training, where almost everyone smoked and part of our daily routine was walking the parade ground or company area policing for butts we had "forgotten" to properly dispose of. Every day here at the Passion Play, I clean up after our visitors as well as our workers, picking up bottles, cans, napkins, half-eaten food, sunflower and pumpkin seed shells, wallets, candy wrappers, loose change, articles of clothing and hundreds of cigarette butts. I have never found a cigarette butt in the 4000 seat amphitheater for the Play, but everywhere else on the grounds and parking lots, there are amazing numbers of butts. The Christ of the Ozarks statue is a reverent and, some might say, holy area, but the cigarette butts litter the walking and sitting areas. There are special receptacles for cigarette butts, and they are loaded to the hilt, but butts do not always find their way there.
Being from Colorado, we have a different smoking issue, with medical and recreational marijuana use being legal. And while most users don't throw the unsmoked stuff on the ground, but save it for the next "joint", we have to put up with drivers doing 35 mph on the Interstates, tie-dyed hippy wanna-be's and life-style choices which test our own beliefs of morality and character. For the moment, I'm glad to be where we are in Arkansas, blessed to be part of this ministry and still willing to pick up the remains of a $50 plus carton of tobacco, paper and cellulose filters, hoping more people will break the cigarette habit and turn to e-cigs, vaping, or some other litter-less form of smoking.
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