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breoaigitToday I am smug. Today the smoking ban in all public buildings went into effect in Delaware. Hopefully I will no longer have to sit in a restaurant one table away from the smoking section and watch my husband go into an asthma attack because some ding-dong couldn't wait to light up. I suppose I just don't understand the 'freedom to smoke where we want'. It's a freedom to endanger people around you? I suppose it's a freedom to give one's self lung disease, yeah. You never know who is next to you though. Someone may have asthma. Someone may be a former cancer victim. Someone simply may be allergic to cigarette smoke. Still, I suppose many people don't care about the welfare of others, only their own selfish right to induldge in their addiction.
Strong feelings on this? You bet. My parents both smoke. I can't visit them very often, because if Dean is around them for more than a couple hours, he's desperately ill for -days- afterwards. I love my parents dearly, but it keeps us apart. Also, I quit smoking almost 11 years ago. I smoked from the ages of 13 to just prior to my 21st birthday. I gave it up for Lent, and realized after six weeks without cigarettes, life was just a whole lot better.
I'm not crusading for people to quit. I tried that with my parents for years, and finally gave up. People need internal motivation and often medical help for that. (Which doesn't always work, sadly.) I am, however, thrilled that there's a few less spaces that will tolerate smoke. I apologize if I've offended anyone's delicate sensibilities, but I've just seen too many awful things to be sympathetic. I watched my biological father trying to smoke even while he was paralyzed to the point he couldn't cough for himself, and other people had to help him cough by doing a CPR-like push on his diaphragm pretty much. Both my parents can't kick the habit, after decades of trying. My husband has asthma and is a cancer survivor (not a cigarette-related cancer, no, he has never smoked). And I know how hard it is to quit, no one has to tell me. Been there, done that, bought the self-rightious and sanctimonious t-shirt. ;)
Strong feelings on this? You bet. My parents both smoke. I can't visit them very often, because if Dean is around them for more than a couple hours, he's desperately ill for -days- afterwards. I love my parents dearly, but it keeps us apart. Also, I quit smoking almost 11 years ago. I smoked from the ages of 13 to just prior to my 21st birthday. I gave it up for Lent, and realized after six weeks without cigarettes, life was just a whole lot better.
I'm not crusading for people to quit. I tried that with my parents for years, and finally gave up. People need internal motivation and often medical help for that. (Which doesn't always work, sadly.) I am, however, thrilled that there's a few less spaces that will tolerate smoke. I apologize if I've offended anyone's delicate sensibilities, but I've just seen too many awful things to be sympathetic. I watched my biological father trying to smoke even while he was paralyzed to the point he couldn't cough for himself, and other people had to help him cough by doing a CPR-like push on his diaphragm pretty much. Both my parents can't kick the habit, after decades of trying. My husband has asthma and is a cancer survivor (not a cigarette-related cancer, no, he has never smoked). And I know how hard it is to quit, no one has to tell me. Been there, done that, bought the self-rightious and sanctimonious t-shirt. ;)
