Smoke

[Guest]

I'm smoking while I read this.

BWAH HA HA HA!

 

[arienette]

I'm smoking while I read this.

I think I popped out of Abs' womb with a cigarette in my mouth.

 

[Guest]

I think I popped out of Abs' womb with a cigarette in my mouth.

no she handed you a cigar as the umbelical chord was cut

 

[arienette]

no she handed you a cigar as the umbelical chord was cut

Ah, that's it...Smart woman.

 

[English Lady]

Thanks for explaining,folks. I'm going to step out now 'cos otherwise I'm only gonig to annoy folks further *L*

I'll just say that when i walk past someone smoking, I smell it, I inhale it and I don't like it. I don't like my daughter inhaling it and it worries me -wether I'm over worrying, I don't know, but there we go, it is what it is.

And I also have to say you all do sound very respectful and polite, some people won't think twice to blowing cigarette smoke in my childs face or lighting up as they sit/stand next to us at a bus stop or worse, at the enclosed bus station.


Okay, bye -don't want to argue no more

 

[SeaCat]

Thanks for explaining,folks. I'm going to step out now 'cos otherwise I'm only gonig to annoy folks further *L*

I'll just say that when i walk past someone smoking, I smell it, I inhale it and I don't like it. I don't like my daughter inhaling it and it worries me -wether I'm over worrying, I don't know, but there we go, it is what it is.

And I also have to say you all do sound very respectful and polite, some people won't think twice to blowing cigarette smoke in my childs face or lighting up as they sit/stand next to us at a bus stop or worse, at the enclosed bus station.


Okay, bye -don't want to argue no more

EL,

I do understand what you are talking about. As I have mentioned before I don't smoke in my own house. I refuse to smoke at my parents place, even though my mother smokes. I rarely if ever smoke in public places and that includes such venues as parks and beaches. If I have visitors over I will either not smoke when they are here, or I make sure I am downwind from them when I light up. (Yes I do readily admit there are many people out there who are not as polite about smoking as I am. You just need to walk down the street to see them or the debris they leave behind to know what I mean.)

Yes I do know the risks inherent in my smoking, I work on an Oncology Unit. I have seen more people than I can count suffer and die from Cancer, caused by many reasons including smoking. I have taken care of them, cleaned them and cared for their families as well while they slowly died before my eyes. (The hardest to date was the 21 year old woman who died of advanced Ovarian Cancer. They had found it too late for even the Hysterectomy to help. She died in my arms because her Boyfriend had left her when she had the Hysterectomy. She never smoked a day in her life. Her greatest regret? That she had failed to try so many things in her short life. Her death was one of the very few that truly affected me.)

As for the quiting, I did stop smoking for several years. Then when things started getting strange in my life I started up again. Oh I could have used other ways to deal with the stress of being homeless, the threat of losing my foot or the threat of losing my wife, but I went back to smoking because it was the easiest and the least destructive.

I do not appologize for my smoking. On the other hand I do not tolerate nor should I need to tolerate the Anti-Smokers as Rob Calls them. They need the outlet of their ranting as a way to controll other peoples actions. (The Non-Smokers I can deal with.) It's just too bad in my opinion that they can't be bothered to direct their energy into a more useful venue, or maybe it's the fact that it is only the maligned smokers who won't beat the living crap out of them when they get into our faces with their ranting and rhetoric. (Can you see the reaction if someone did that to a CrackHead or a Rascist?)

Cat

Oh and EL, I am nowhere near angry with you. As I mentioned I can and do understand where you are coming from.

 

[Guest]

Very hot issue. Extremely hot.

I physically cannot tolerate cigarrette smoking. I have no problem with most pipe tobacco (cigars just stink). The chemicals involved in processing cigarrette tobacco cause me serious breathing problems. Friends I have who smoke are cautious around me, usually because they've seen the reaction and don't care for it very much. Thus, I do not visit the homes of friends who smoke, nor do I patronize businesses (such as clubs, bars and restaurants) where smoking is permitted. I do not allow smoking in my home, although I provide an outdoor area for friends who do smoke.

I've lost more than 6 family members to smoking related illnesses, including two grandparents, both parents, two uncles and two aunts. Other relatives have died of possibly smoking related illnesses, but I'm not sure. My father quit smoking when I was 8 because he was in the hospital with his third or forth bout of pneumonia. The doctor gave him about 6 months if he didn't stop smoking. He did, and he lived another 23 years, although he had already suffered damage to his heart and lungs that did contribute to his death. My mother tried to quit on her doctor's advice because of her high bloodpressure. Smoking causes blood vessels to narrow, increasing risks due to high bloodpressure. She was 54 when she died -- not really very old. I was 16.

But the most striking event happened when I was 14 and in the hospital for some testing. For whatever reason, I was rooming with a woman dying of emphasema. Over the three days I was there, I watched her gasping, coughing, and choking. Over and over she warned, begged, and ordered me to never, ever smoke. She was maybe in her late 50's/early 60's. Her suffering made a huge impression on me. It was impossible to sleep while listening to her struggle to breathe and cry in her panic that she would stop breathing and simply suffocate to death.

Everyone has the right to chose what they will and will not do with their bodies. I believe that people whose chose to smoke do so by their own violition, and their choice should be respected. I also support friends who chose to quit smoking, just as I would support a friend who chose to quit drinking, quit eating high fat food, quit taking drugs, etc.

I do find myself resenting people who, by their actions, make it impossible for me to enjoy going out., whether they are smoking, playing loud music, or wearing unbearable amounts of cologne. Because they take part in an activity that intrudes upon me, their choice also intrudes upon me. I feel strongly that such things are private and should be done in private areas such as homes. etc. This is becoming the standard (by law) in many places, which causes hard feelings for smokers who were allowed to smoke before and are no longer. It can be very difficult to accomodate everyone, so the majority tends to get things their way, and nonsmokers are becoming the majority, just as once smokers were the majority.

The Denis Leary thing is old. I always thought he was making fun of himself as well, pointing out many things about smoking which were...less than wonderful, of which he was quite cognizant. Nevertheless, he defended his right to chose and not to have the choices of others forced upon him. I agree. He has a right to smoke, but that does not necessarily translate into a right to smoke anywhere and everywhere he choses. It's the old adage about one's right to swing one's arm ends where someone else's nose begins.

For what it's worth.

 

[joeys-game]

I am a polite smoker.

I won't smoke in your car or in your house unless you tell me it's okay to do so. If you're allergic to smoke, I have no problem not smoking around you. It doesn't bother me to refrain from smoking in restaurants, on planes, etc.

However....

Covering your mouth and nose with a cloth when you walk by me when I'm OUTSIDE, and telling your children to do the same thing (not because of allergies, but because you're an asshole), while giving me dirty looks, will cause me to blow as much of my second-hand smoke in your direction as is possible.

lol..thats exactly what i do..feel..think..

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[arienette]

What gets me is this: I go to visit my Dad, we go out to the waffle house for coffee. Invariably someone will sit down next to us at the counter and start their <cough, cough> routine.

HEY!!! It's a smoking establishment. If you don't like the smoke don't go there. But CERTAINLY don't sit down next to two guys who have packs of smoke on the counter in front of them and start your anti smoking shit. That's not only ignorant, it's fucking assinine.

I've been through that - I asked them to please move and they looked at me like I had 5 heads or something. Fuckers, they sat down after I did!

 

[Liar]

I say only this. Do what you wanna.

But if, in a restaurant, you let your smoke drift my way, I withold the right to let my big, stinky farts drift your way. Deal?

I'll order the beans and extra onions, just for y'all.