I'm about to venture into an area that many feel strongly about. Everyone has strong opinions regarding smoking and smokers and some people will become very defensive about the topic. I would like to preface this by stating that I do have friends who smoke and I love them dearly. I also worry about them terribly. The majority of my friends who smoke do so with respect to others. They go outside to smoke; they wash their hands afterwards or wear a hat to avoid getting the smell in their hair and they never try to push their habit onto me. With that said...here I my issues with smoking and smokers in general.
1. I do not want to breathe in your toxins. Please do not smoke right outside the entrance ways to buildings. If you are walking down the street I really don't want to be stuck behind you with your toxic smoke of death floating into my face. You have the right to poison yourself but not others, please be considerate of where you smoke.
2. If you have asthma and you choose to smoke I do not want to see your ass in the ER complaining that your asthma is out of control or that you can't get rid of your respiratory infection. DUH IDIOT QUIT SMOKING THEN
3. If you have children and you smoke do NOT smoke around your children. Do not smoke in the house and for God's sake DO NOT SMOKE IN THE CAR WITH YOUR CHILDREN IN IT!!! I am sick and tired of parents bringing their children in for difficulty breathing, recurrent ear infections, and recurrent asthma problems and saying "i don't understand why they have so many breathing problems/ear infections" BECAUSE YOU ARE EXPOSING YOUR CHILD TO POISON! THEY ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS. These particular smokers absolutely wreak of smoke, i feel like I'm going to have an asthma attack just walking into the exam room and I don't have asthma. If you want to put your own health at risk fine...but don't do it to your children. Additionally; research has shown that the chemicals and toxins from smoking linger on clothing, hair, skin and materials such as carpet for much longer than ever expected; therefore when you smoke outside and come in and pick up your child and they touch your face, your hands, your hair and your clothing you are still exposing them to chemicals and toxins that are just as dangerous as those they can breath in from the smoke.
4. Lying to health care providers about smoking. Really? You think we can't smell it on you. We can. Tell us the truth. We aren't going to berate you, or lecture you; I am going to offer you help in quiting if you ever desire to do so and I am going to educate you about the health effects of smoking including; high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer (alot more of them then just lung), menstruation problems, infertility, fetal injury and insult, and hygiene.
5. Quiting smoking is one of the absolute hardest addictions to overcome. Smoking stimulates the same receptors as using heroin and cocaine and therefore is just as addictive. I give a great deal of credit to those trying to quit and those that have. And if you fail once don't think you'll just keep failing, on average it takes 6 attempts to quit successfully.
Totally agree with the parent smoking thing. It's horrible to see small babies in cars where the parent is smoking - especially the winter! I've seen them with the windows nearly all the way up!!
ReplyDeleteI used to smoke and was polite about it as well, because it was a decision I was making for myself and myself alone. While I still miss it sometimes, I am glad I hit my final quit time on try number 7. I smell better and my bank account is happier.
Beck, I can't agree more, which is considering I smoke...I know, kick my ass now! It's a stress reliever for me and you know what kind of stresses I have in life. Nevertheless, it's not an excuse! I need to quit and soon! Maybe that is what I will do while DH is gone this week since I've come to the conclusion if I don't smoke, I might kill him. Anyway, in response to your blog, I was SO happy when they made bars and restaurants all non-smoking! It's one thing for us smokers to kill ourselves but why do other people have to breathe that crap? They have made a conscious decision not to smoke for a reason and people should respect that! I can't stand people that stand right outside a doorway and smoke, I want to kick them! Today we were at a St. Patty's Day Parade where 1000's of people and children were. People were walking down the crowded sidewalks with cigarettes and I thought it was totally disgusting. There was one guy in particular carrying his child on his shoulders with a cigarette in his hand...are you kidding me? Some people have no respect for themselves, which to each their own but to put their children in harm like that is completely irresponsible and disguating!
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