by Ivan Remaj

Created on: November 27, 2009   Last Updated: January 27, 2012

It was a Saturday evening as I was entering in my favorite bar. When I opened a door I saw a great white wall. I'm a prepared person so I took out my metaphorical knife, inhaled deeply and started to cut my way through the smoke. Visibility was poor so I had some trouble locating my friends. But as every good explorer out there I didn't give up and finally I found them. After a few minutes in this kind of an environment my eyes were red and burning, my clothes started to smell when that awful smoke from cigarettes fused with my brand new toilet water. But the worst was an all out assault on my respiratory system. 

In my country, we had a law that banned smoking. Then smokers started to complain about their rights and how this law is anti-constitutional. It lasted six months and now we have smokers all over the place again. Few of my friends are smokers so I often argue with them about that. They can't even put out a cigarette for a half an hour to drink coffee.

As it's often the case, a loud minority trampled on the majority in this case too. Their main argument was that banning smoking in public is violating their freedom. So let's look at a few hypotheticals. You make a Sarin gas bomb and activate it in the bar. You kill many people. You end up in jail. You throw some acid out your window and it falls on a few people badly mutilating them. You go to jail. You go through the red light because you can't wait. You run over a few pedestrians. You go to jail. Now let's look what happens when you light up a cigarette in a closed off space. Smoke with many carcinogens spreads all over the room and it gets onto other people. I don't have a problem when someone want to poison themself, it's their choice. But I refuse to suffer the same consequences as that idiot. 

Yes, you could say that my examples are extreme. How can you compare a Sarin gas bomb with a simple cigarette? Well poison is poison and the only difference is their concentration. Thousands upon thousands of studies have proved that smoking is unhealthy, that it raises the risk of cardio-respiratory diseases, cancer, sterility and other heinous ailments. Just because you don't plan to blow someone up doesn't mean you are less responsible for your actions. Ignorance is a bad combination with dangerous substances.

So if a reckless driver ends up being punished for his actions how come we ignore constant poisoning of our people. I believe that nonsmokers are still a majority so how come a majority is being constantly oppressed, ridiculed and most of all put in danger by a minority of smokers? We don't endanger anyone yet we are losing our basic rights such as a right for healthy life.

Smokers damage their health and the health of people near by. As they grow older they become more ill and require treatment. Every country loses a lot of money when they need to take care for those smokers. They are the same as a recovering alcoholic, drug addict or a criminal. They all deserve a second chance and they will get it. But when you spend your whole life ignoring the warnings and shamelessly destroying health every time you light up a cigarette, you should wonder what kind of person are you. Do you deserve your given rights when you are damaging the society that gave you your rights?

In my eyes you are a mere criminal that doesn't want to admit they are doing anything wrong. Your ignorance doesn't give you the right to act superior it just gives you the right to look and act stupid and it would be for the best if you acted like that alone where you can't harm anyone but yourself. 

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