I am a non-smoker and always have been. I’ve had friends who smoke. I have family who smoke too. Hell, my neighbors on either side of me smoke. Do I like it? Of course not! One thing I do not have is a significant other who smokes, and I never have because that is a deal-breaker for me. I cannot tolerate it and while I won’t refuse to associate with someone who smokes, I will avoid them whenever they light up. I think it is an unhealthy and costly habit, and not just for the person who smokes, but also for their friends, family, employer, and our health-care system. Not only that, but despite the depictions of the “cool” people smoking, I think it makes otherwise good-looking people seem unattractive.
I’m all for recent legislation to ban smoking in public places. It’s about time the rights of non-smokers are taken seriously. I just wish there was a way to get everyone to just stop smoking altogether. You don’t know just how angry it makes me thinking about the harm being done to the children and pets of smokers. Their rights are being violated every day by people who claim to care for them because they cannot speak up for themselves.
If you happen to feel similarly, here are some helpful links:
Smokefree.gov
Smokefree.net
Smoke Free World
No-Smoke.org
The Truth
Ingredients in a Cigarette
Anatomy of a Cigarette
World No Tobacco Day
Tobacco Free Initiative
Yeah, that’s something on which I disagree with the official (and even unofficial) Republican party line. Frankly, I’d not only like to see smoking in public places banned everywhere – and no more “smoking sections”, either – but also I wouldn’t mind if the tobacco companies were forced out of business and the crop fields were used to grow something else.
You know, I could have sworn I saw a banner on a bus that said something like, “eight people a day die from secondhand smoke.” Pretty astonishing, I think. DH smoked for about a year, and I convinced him to quit. A huge pet peeve of mine is when people smoke inside their house with kids. So bad for all involved.