From an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Chandler: So how does it feel knowing you’re about to die?
Joey: In 5 minutes my pain will be over. But you’ll have to live with the knowledge that you sent an honest man….to DIE.
Chandler: So…what do you want from me, Demon?…huh?
Joey: I just wanna go back to my cell. Cuz in my cell, I can smoke…
Chandler: Smoke Away!
*Joey takes a puff from the cigarette and there follows a series of gut wrenching coughs*
Chandler: I think this is why probably Demon smokes in his cell….ALONE!
Basically I have a couple of ‘friends’ who smoke, so I write this post in the face of a great deal of threat to my social life. lolz
A random scanning the internet brought me to the article where smoking was banned in Scotland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3996587.stm
I have, for as long as I can remember, detested smoking. This probably had something to do with the fact that a few moments spent in the presence of a smoker ushered me into gut wrenching coughs.
I have to say I got major problems with smoking. Maybe this is primarily because, unlike other self destructing habits such as alcoholism or drug abuse, smoking is not just about self destruction; you widen the circle with it, endangering the lives of those around you and whether or not you are a victim of the habit. But then again I’m not in support of drug abuse or alchoholism either, and now don’t get me started on that. (I have people calling me a fundamentalist for this, but then I honestly don’t give a damn).
If you hang out with a smoker long enough, you might also get to spend some extra time together bonding…in the cancer ward of a hospital in the next couple of years. It is for this reason that I am completely in support of a ban of smoking in public. For the smokers who believe this is an erosion of their ‘civil liberties’, all I want to say is …you forget about the ‘minority’ of others whose right to fresh air and health is being encroached upon by you. We could do a lot better without the tobacco infested air we are encountered with everyday!
I, however am in support of the creation of small cubicles outside restaurants or theatres where these nicotine addicts can squeeze in and take a puff that will help them ‘escape’ from their load of troubles like a nagging wife at home, a dictatorial boss or a rather extravagant girlfriend; and help them get through the next hour.
It is scary that smoking is equated with being cool and that young teens are pushed into a world of nicotine addiction because of peer pressure. It is tragic that families continue to lose their children and children their parents because of the diseases caused by smoking. And it is horrifying to see the intricate and complex connections that exist between the tobacco industry and governments across the world. (Intricate and complex mean much less the same, but wth…I can’t find words to lay more emphasis).
One only hopes that smokers will now make the smarter choice… that of opting for fresher air to inhale, for the problems that smoking leads to, for them and others are not those that can be puffed away.
Anticipating a better world with fresher air, till next time,
Paras Mamania.