I can't stand second hand cigarette smoke, but I also love to bowl. Up until many states changed their laws, I usually had to put up with the smoke to meet my need to bowl. In fact, I dislike smoking as much as binge drinking.
Reason being simple, I can be around someone drinking alcohol and it doesn't make me drunk or partaking with them. Their decision to drink only affects me if they partake too much. First they get loud, then stupid, then obnoxious, and then I have to play mom. Worse case how they could affect me is if they hurt me, i.e. drinking and driving, fighting, etc.
Smoking however is different. If you smoke near me, I get the worse end of the deal, unfiltered smoke... the smoker is at least getting filtered smoke. I just find that most people that smoke are inconsiderate, whether it be intentional or unintentional. Do people who smoke look around and think about the second-hand smoke? Your habit affects everyone around you and downwind. I personally believe that it is harmful. I don't want to breathe it or smell it, and ESPECIALLY I do not want my kid or unborn child breathing it. On top of that, when did flicking a cigarette butt not constitute littering? Its just part of the deal, you finish a cig in your car and flick it out the window. Side note, this applies to beer drinkers as well. I used to volunteer on some adopt a roads. Why is it that 90% of the beverage containers that got picked up were for beer? I could make a correlation here, but to not sound too judgemental I will not... but just know I thought it!
Back to smokers. So what gives? I know it is a very addicting habit. No one will dispute that it is bad for you, but why does my health have to get dragged in. I sincerely appreciate the smokers that are "smoke conscious." By that I mean the ones that make an effort to get away and are courteous about where the smoke is blowing, they don't hover right around the exit/entrance so I walk through a smoke screen coming or going. When it is raining they don't run to the one covered area and light up, effectively taking over the whole area. I find these types to be the very slim minority of smokers. But to that slim minority, thank you! Your courtesy is not going unnoticed.
This post comes from my recent attendance of the Detroit hoedown, and my higher consciousness (less tolerance) with a baby and preggo with me. My big question/thought, do I not have the same right to pure clean air, as the smoker does to smoke? Where is the balance? I personally have a "sorta-kind-of" loose rule that believes my personal rights end when it starts to infringe on your personal rights. I.E. I do not like vulgarity/cursing. I have the same right to not have to hear a curse as the next person has to say it. Smoking is just a little different, it is harmful from the first puff. I guess this wouldn't be a big deal if we were all just a little more considerate of others in this me, me, me world.
Reason being simple, I can be around someone drinking alcohol and it doesn't make me drunk or partaking with them. Their decision to drink only affects me if they partake too much. First they get loud, then stupid, then obnoxious, and then I have to play mom. Worse case how they could affect me is if they hurt me, i.e. drinking and driving, fighting, etc.
Smoking however is different. If you smoke near me, I get the worse end of the deal, unfiltered smoke... the smoker is at least getting filtered smoke. I just find that most people that smoke are inconsiderate, whether it be intentional or unintentional. Do people who smoke look around and think about the second-hand smoke? Your habit affects everyone around you and downwind. I personally believe that it is harmful. I don't want to breathe it or smell it, and ESPECIALLY I do not want my kid or unborn child breathing it. On top of that, when did flicking a cigarette butt not constitute littering? Its just part of the deal, you finish a cig in your car and flick it out the window. Side note, this applies to beer drinkers as well. I used to volunteer on some adopt a roads. Why is it that 90% of the beverage containers that got picked up were for beer? I could make a correlation here, but to not sound too judgemental I will not... but just know I thought it!
Back to smokers. So what gives? I know it is a very addicting habit. No one will dispute that it is bad for you, but why does my health have to get dragged in. I sincerely appreciate the smokers that are "smoke conscious." By that I mean the ones that make an effort to get away and are courteous about where the smoke is blowing, they don't hover right around the exit/entrance so I walk through a smoke screen coming or going. When it is raining they don't run to the one covered area and light up, effectively taking over the whole area. I find these types to be the very slim minority of smokers. But to that slim minority, thank you! Your courtesy is not going unnoticed.
This post comes from my recent attendance of the Detroit hoedown, and my higher consciousness (less tolerance) with a baby and preggo with me. My big question/thought, do I not have the same right to pure clean air, as the smoker does to smoke? Where is the balance? I personally have a "sorta-kind-of" loose rule that believes my personal rights end when it starts to infringe on your personal rights. I.E. I do not like vulgarity/cursing. I have the same right to not have to hear a curse as the next person has to say it. Smoking is just a little different, it is harmful from the first puff. I guess this wouldn't be a big deal if we were all just a little more considerate of others in this me, me, me world.
5 comments:
I know I never really put in a solution, but I have one. Private places, your home... puff away. I can always leave or attempt to work around your habit. But my overall answer to my question to meet mine and the smokers right is this. Keep them separate. I hate legislating everything, but this is a matter of health and well being. Public areas should be smoke-free, with designated smoking areas. Me going into a smoking area will never infringe on the smokers right, but the opposite is not true. I shouldn't have to leave a free public concert b/c I only need 6 sq feet to stand with my family, while you and your smoke will take 200 sq ft. This type of change would enable the authorities to be able to truly keep things family friendly. In the end the Detroit Hoedown was not family friendly, and that was too bad.
Ugh! I also hate smoking! It's disgusting. And I don't understand why people can't put their cigarette buts in the trashcan that's no more than 10-20 feet away from them. We're in an apartment until our house sells...and Hallie and I daily walk the grounds. Cigarette butts are on the top of her "I must aquire one of those" list as every time we come upon one, I either step on it and say "YUCK!" or kick it out of her line of vision. We (well, I) don't enjoy the outdoors b/c there are so many cigarette butts around. Gross!
And I'm also noticing that places that are smoke-free aren't really all that smoke-free. Restaurants for example might not let you smoke inside, but say nothing to the old guy standing right at the door, providing a cloud of smoke as your entrance. Sigh.
All I can say is AMEN, especially the part about littering and smoking right in doorways. It is so obnoxious! I am so hoping that all restaurants in AL are about to go smoke free. It's up for a vote in the Senate. That would be amazing!
I second the AMEN! This is one of the biggest things we miss about California. There is no smoking in public buildings and no smoking within a certain distance of the entrances and exits. It was such a shock moving the Connecticut after being used to smoke-free air!!
I couldn't agree more. I especially hate because I have developed asthma as a result of second-hand smokers. Never smoked a day in my life, but now I have asthma to treat because of someone else's disgusting habit. It also doesn't help that I take care of people with lung/respiratory issues who can't figure out how they got into the hospital. And then sneak out when I'm not looking to smoke on hospital grounds (no thanks to our security guards who often give them the ciggy they bum off of someone on our smoke-free campus. It is really hard for me to comprehend just how essential it is to have nicotine flavored food in a restaraunt, especially because it makes anything I order so much less appetizing. I have left many a restaraunts who have put me in the non-smoking section which sits right next to the smoking. Gee thanks! Keep your bad habits to yourself; I'll keep mine to myself.
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