Ben+B’s+2018+OpEd+Article


 * Why gum should be banned. **

I was in the sixth grade when this problem started in my life. Middle school was just about to start so my mom took me out to the Pacific View Mall to go get a brand new pair of shoes. But these weren’t just any shoes. I had a specific pair of shoes on my mind since the end of fifth grade. At last, the day had finally come that they would be mine: black and white, Nike Stefan Janoskis. So we went to the mall, and looked in store after store. My Nikes were nowhere to be seen. But after checking four other stores, I finally found a pair in my size at Footlocker and I couldn’t have been more happy. I didn’t wear them out of the store because I wanted them fresh and unscathed for the first day and I don’t even recall taking them out of the box (I was such a nerd thinking about it). So the first day of school comes and success. The shoes were amazing and I couldn’t stop thinking about how cool they looked on my feet. Little did I know, how devastated I would soon become. Later that day, my aunt picked me up and took me to go get lunch. All seemed normal. No worries, first day of school, no homework, new shoes, and I thought to myself: “All is well.” That is till I stepped foot outside of my aunt’s car. Had I known what was going to happen, I never would have left that car. I opened the door rapidly, enthusiastic, and hungry for some food. But to my horror, when my shoe hit cement, it landed in a gargantuan wad of stomach-churning gum. I was absolutely enraged and furious at the time and my day was completely ruined by that God awful piece of chewable rubber that somehow ended up attached to bottom of my brand new Janoski. It still makes me mad thinking about it now. Especially now because it’s been so long since I dare to even recall this tragic moment of my past. Ever since that day, I’ve never viewed gum the same. Perhaps I did step in gum pre-Janoski, but all those incidences were nowhere near the severity of this pivotal moment. Perhaps I also lacked the age and maturity to recognize all the cases of improper gum usage and disposal. That is why, today, I write to my fellow students and teachers that we must put in place a piece of legislation, hereby banning the usage of gum on school campuses and public facilities, to ensure the protection and wellbeing of our people’s most beloved footwear. Shoes can be expensive. That specific pair alone was $85, just to have it haunted by a piece of synthetic rubber. According to the very official website: Chewinggumfacts.com, each year over 374 trillion sticks of gum are made. What I want to know is how many of those gum sticks are bought and properly used, disposed of, not winding up on the streets. Well, after seeing Buena High School’s campus grounds, my guess is not too many. It seems for some reason, the majority of high school students, as well as many irresponsible adults, are susceptible of a severe open jaw disease, where they do not possess the ability to prevent gum from exiting the outside perimeter of their oral cavities. In other words, don’t spit gum on the sidewalk so people with bad luck like me don’t step in it. Or just don’t chew gum, have a mint instead. Gum is loud, sticky, causes oral problems, and it’s basically an atrocity on our society and pretty much all of mankind. Be responsible, throw it away, and support my anti-gum laws when I take this crisis all the way to Congress. Stay safe, watch your feet people.