I struggled with whether or not I should post this article because I know that smokers may read this and I didn’t want to push any buttons. However, a rant from someone like ‘lil old me can’t possibly be as harmful as smoking around someone. If you’re a smoker who only smokes in private, away from non-smokers, this article shouldn’t concern you. It’s more of a personal rant towards those who carelessly smoke around others.
Not too long ago, I had a random dream where I was waiting on the bus stop. Someone walked up next to me and said, “Do you mind if I smoke?” That was weird because although I’m sure there’s polite smokers here and there, out of the countless amount of smokers I’ve come across personally, I’ve never had anyone ask me that question in real life. Before I could say anything, I woke up.
The smell of cigarettes alone give me a headache long after I walk away from it. What makes it even worse is that I can smell it a mile away. I could also be driving, smell cigarettes, look over to my right, and see a person in their car in the next lane, smoking a cigarette; even after the fact that both my and their windows are rolled up. There’s practically no way around it when you’re out in the public. I sometimes wonder why I’m sucked into this cloud of smoke against my will, but then I instantly remember why:
All the smokers that I’ve ever come across in my life, whether a loved one or a complete stranger, were selfish. Selfish in the sense that supporting their addiction was far more important than the health of the people who surrounded them, even if those people were the ones who should have mattered to them the most. It kind of sucks to say this, but their actions beat me to the punch anyway. Many of them knew the consequences of first and second hand smoke, they were just either too addicted to care, or wanted to be in denial so that they wouldn’t have to face their guilt.
How I Grew to HATE Cigarettes: When I was a little girl, I can recall running an errand with my best friends, two of my best friend’s siblings, and her grandmother, who was a smoker. I can recall her smoking with the windows rolled up and I desperately wanted a breath of fresh air. (Or, at least, a breath of the small percentage of clean air that this planet has left.) I wanted to roll down the windows, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I just sat there in the car during our thirty minute errand engulfing all the smoke that my best friend’s grandmother would continuously let out as I got dizzy out of my mind.
I didn’t realize how serious cigarette addiction was until one of my uncles was diagnosed with lung cancer. The last time I saw him, he had less than a year to live. He was standing on my church’s porch, smoking. I remember saying, “You know, you shouldn’t be smoking…especially if you have lung cancer.”
He replied, “Well, I’m already dying so I might as well go out with a bang.” He puffed and I laughed. That was the last thing he ever said to me.
I have a cousin who has cystic fibrosis. Two family reunions ago, there were people smoking around her. I instantly thought, “They shouldn’t be smoking around her.” About thirty minutes later, she had a breathing episode and I wouldn’t be surprised if all the smoking ignited it.
As I was taking my daughter to her doctor’s appointment, I saw a mother who was to deliver at any moment, IV and all. She came outside to get a cigarette break. There was a man with her (who I’m assuming was her lover), who lit the cigarette for her so that she could puff away. I could only shake my head in disgust and pray that her baby was brought into the world without any defects. And if it’s not the pregnant mothers who are smoking, it’s others smoking around pregnant mothers.
What sickens me just as much were the nurses who smoked outside the cancer patient building. I wondered if they were taught that even after they put the cigarette out, the ashes from the cigarettes stay behind on their clothes, causing anyone they lean over or get close in contact with (their patients), to breathe in the harmful toxins that linger. Breathing in toxins from cigarettes can be the equivalent of sandpaper rubbing against your lungs.
I have also gotten in a few health debates with smokers, since they so carelessly loved to smoke around me. The ones who humored me the most were the, “My [insert relative here] smoked for 65 years and they’re doing just fine!” smokers. Meanwhile, their own personal health wasn’t too great and there’s a countless amount of cases were other smokers WEREN’T doing just fine. Albert Whittamore of London, who had his funeral on March 2nd, 2010, ordered to have a sign that said, “Smoking killed me” on both his grave and hearse to warn young people. Smoking was responsible for giving him emphysema, which eventually took his life.
They run the town: They never cared about me or anyone else. Despite their pulling everyone down with them, they never felt obligated to look after anyone. When you try to avoid them, they find a way to get near you with the annoying cloud of smoke. Another great example of what I mean? Tarc stops. Tarc stops are horrible. Before I started driving a car, I would take tiresome walks to the bus stop, sometimes in the hot sun, so you can imagine how relieved I am when I sit on the sheltered tarc bench waiting for the bus. More often than not, a random person will walk up, sit on the bench next to me and smoke. Now they’re making me smell just as bad as they do. What would I do? I would get up and stand on the opposite side. Then eventually, someone comes in that area to smoke and I had no other place to go. It was like trying to dodge a bullet. Here I am compromising my health (including possibly my overall lifespan) and comfort so that they can be comfortable. Lets not get started on college campuses. Students loved to smoke right in front of the doorway. I guess they wanted to give me special effects as I walked into the building?
The smoking sections at restaurants? Despite there being tons of empty tables far away from the non-smoking section, guess where some smokers chose to sit? You guessed it. As close to the non-smoking section as possible, sending the nasty cloud of all that horribleness towards smoker-free adults and children trying to enjoy a meal.
They have a right to do this, but no one is allowed to speak or take action against it. When Memorial Hospital in Tennessee announced that they were going to ban hiring nurses who smoked back in January of 2010, it caused a huge uproar because it should be their personal right to smoke and possibly take longer breaks to support their habit (as studies showed that many of them do) and then expose their patients to the unseen remnants of ash. However, no one’s allowed to have a right to not be exposed to it when they’re most vulnerable, speak against it, or take action to protect vulnerable patients.
Why is looking in the best interest of the smoker more crucial at times? Well, smoking is an addictive drug and since its perfectly legal, many people openly do it; presidents, doctors, nurses, lawyers, LAW-MAKERS…
Hygiene issues: Those who couldn’t go two hours without puffing tended to smell horrible. I’m sorry, but they did. Not a scent in the world could cover it up, even though some desperately tried to. At least teenage girls back in high school tried. You know those girls who asked the teachers if they could go to the restroom to pee when they were really going for a cigarette break? When they returned, they reeked of cigarette smoke that they desperately tried to extinguish with body spray from Bath & Body Works, as if no one would notice. Looked like Bath & Body Works came out with a new scent. Must have been called Berry Newports or something like that. If you can find a smoker who doesn’t reek of smelly cigarettes, forgive me and point them out so that I can pay you a million dollars.
Also, when they smoked around me, they made me smell just as bad as they did. I’d walk out of the house smelling like fresh Dove soap and come back smelling like ash in less than two hours later. It’s almost as if I were smoking right along with them. I might as well have been because second hand smoking is far worse, as I was breathing in most of what they rudely blew out in my direction.
Even the things they own often smelled bad, as they smoked in every place possible. Everything from the furniture they own to the gifts that they give.
Everyone has the right to breathe clean air: I used to be afraid to ask people not to light up around me because I felt that it would be rude. However, it’s far more rude when smokers expose others to the toxins they let out, simply because they need to find a way to calm their nerves. Everyone should have a right to breathe smoke-free air.
I’m all for banning smoking cigarettes in public. Yes, I said it. Why not ban it, when smoking weed is illegal for most Americans? If most smokers aren’t going to look out for me when they come around, it’s best that I look out for myself. Maybe this article is a bit harsh, but I’d rather have someone disagree with something I said, rather than having someone endanger my health. Sorry.
If that dream didn’t end so short, I would have told that guy, “Yeah, I mind!”
Tags: cigarettes, smoke, smoking
