by Larry Wadsworth

Created on: June 01, 2010

Smoking used to be one of the last things that a person could do in defiance of cultural or political pressures without the worry of being punished to any great extent.  The smoker is now chastised to the point where there is even talk of outlawing the act in any public place.  We are being forced into hiding deep in our closets, afraid to even let our doctors know that we are in fact smokers for fear that they will refuse to give us service because they are  risk patients. 

We are being shamed into trying to quit the habit by brainwashed children coming home from school with all ot the reasons listed as to why we should not smoke.  After all they do not want their mommy or daddy to die.   One would think that smokers would fall into the same category as Senators playing footsie under the stalls in toilet rooms or rock stars who get out of cars without underwear.  The smoker has become the dirty old man or woman that you do not want your children around.  Children do not want their child around a grandparent who smokes even if it is just for a limited amount of time.  The precious little things just might die from a touch of pollution, never mind all of the other pollutants that they might be exposed to like lead poisoning from all of their toys imported from China. 

Smoking has become a rich man's way to a long and slow suicide that is socially acceptable.   The life expectancy of a smoker if ar less than a non=smoker.  Think of all the funds that society will save by having to provide care for these extra individuals in their old age. If one calculates the amount of money that smoking now costs - in the neighborhood of four thousand dollars a year, it is no longer a pass time for the poor.  It is a way for the middle and upper classes to contribute more to the economy of their countries because of the high tax revenue that is generated for each package of cigarettes.  It smoking revenue is lost, the governments would have to get it from other sources.  So in fact the smoker if providing a service to the culture at large and one might even say protecting the masses of non-smokers from even higher taxation. 

In short leave the smoker alone.  They are doing us a service and God only knows, they won't be around all that long anyways.    

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