by Kimberly Bauer

Created on: April 16, 2008

I am someone who strongly believes in freedom. Freedom of thought. Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Freedom to live our lives as we choose. Freedom to make our own decisions and freedom to live with the consequences of those actions. But along with that freedom is responsibility. I believe that each and every person has the responsibility to respect the freedoms of others while they pursue their own happiness. This aspect of freedom is often over looked and hugely under-rated. The topic of smoking is one area where this responsibility comes into play.

Each person has the right to smoke if they want to. That is a simple truth. I may not agree with that decision, or even understand it (with all of the strong evidence supporting the dangers of smoking), but, as I said, each person has the right to live their life as they choose. No one has the right to tell someone that they don't have the right to smoke or tell them that they cannot smoke if that is what they choose to do. (That is to say if that person is of legal age.)

However, that being said and fully accepting the freedom aspect of this argument, I do not feel that anyone else should be forced to breathe in the smoke of others. I truly believe that it is a truly selfish act to smoke in public areas. I believe that doing so puts the rights of the smoker above those of everyone else. The worst of this comes when the smoking is done in and interior public space, where the smoke will linger and everyone in that space is forced to spoke by proxy. It goes against every aspect of freedom that I believe in. Once one person's freedom imposes on another's it is no longer an issue of the right to do it. NO person has the right to make someone else do something against their will.

It goes without saying the many health reasons that smoking should not be allowed in interior public spaces, the risk of cancer from second hand smoke, asthma, and other allergy related issues. I believe that if someone chooses to smoke it should be a choice that he/she makes for his or herself not a choice that they force on others. The same rights that afford people the luxury of smoking also affords me the right not to smoke. That right also includes my right not to have to breathe in second hand smoke. Rights are for everyone to enjoy, not just a few and it is for that reason that smoking should be banned in all interior public areas.

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