In the kitchen of a 1970’s Berkeley, California urban hippie commune, a hand-lettered sign above the sink read, “Wash Your Own and One More,” referring to dirty dishes.
The “Your” was probably a big deal for these guys. They didn’t believe in private property to the point that the eight or so people who shared the three-bedroom house had no “bedroom” or even “bed” of their own. Nightly, each would sleep in the room and bed furthest from the central activity in the living room and kitchen, with more berths becoming available as the action slowed down.
That seemed weird – I like a pillow that smells like my hair. The hippies, however, had no trouble identifying “Your” dirty dish.
The sign over the sink impressed me. Elegantly utopian. “Wash your own and one more.”
I think these 20th Century evil, reviled hippies had a message for us 21st Century evil, reviled smokers when it comes to tossing our butts on the ground.
Unsightly piles of cigarette butts on the ground are yet another reason for non-smokers (and even some smokers) to want to restrict “Designated Smoking Areas” to more and more god-awful and unsheltered places.
Littering is a problem, though, that has an elegantly utopian solution, “Pick Up Your Own and One More.”
Smokers would serve their own cause if they kept designated smoking areas tidy, vile as the location of these smokers’ Gulag may be. It gives us the best chance to negotiate more pleasant “Designations.”
An interesting article! I know I always am disgusted when I see butts littering an area. If you can keep the smoking areas clean, that will be a step in the right direction.