Tainted Sky

I watched the blue sky vibrate intense waves of disgrace today. I was standing on the rooftop of the County parking garage after work, gallavanting around its roof access, bright-eyed and sun beamed thinking this would be a perfect place to light my cigarette and observe the beautiful scenary unfolding. I lit a match to the sky, winked in delight, inhaled my first drag while taking in the Bay Area view from Redwood City. Beneath me streams of cars poured out of the garage as I watched the sheriffs leave their station, jurors departed from their lots, planes began to take off and traffic began to pile up on highway 101. From a panaramic view the Crystal Springs mountains stretched across its landscape and I traced the hill-top layered trees with my eyes. It was completely breathtaking because above me the sky looked so blue and the white clouds draped across breathing as if alive. I inhaled my smoke deep and opened my Green water bottle I received from my supervisor for all my assistance in the county green team program. My conscious kicked in a bit as I began having enviornmental aspirations to protect the earth's well-being. My cigarette burned, automatically I flicked the hot ash to the ground, and tossed my butt to the ground. Almost instantly I noticed a sign fixed to a lamp post depicting a cigarette butt with a caption labelled "this is litter too". I consider myself environmentally conscious but my bad habits have caused me to fondle hypocrisy as I'm constantly justifying my actions as minor compared to the amount of carbon released from cars, homes, and buildings not acknowledging that indeed it all adds up. Watching the cars pass, people dropping their butts on the ground, fumes pouring from buildings, and with my own last exhale of smoke I felt a knot in chest begin to harden the smile the view gave me. The reality is we're destroying our bodies, our lungs, our minds, and most importantly our environment with our many pollutions. It's hard to walk away from work with a smile on my face knowing that the blue sky in all its magnificance glares down in disgrace and "cough" pain. There's so much to change in ourselves, in our habits, in our actions and I hope that when we finally do it wont be too late.