ONE POLITE SMOKER TAKES ON THE ZEALOTS

Ms. Law used much more restraint than I would. I too have tried all the gimmicks to quit smoking and I've quit dozens of times. I just can't seem to stay quit. Like Ms. Law I work very hard at not imposing my smoke on others. I have stood in a lot of rain and snow to smoke. The incident she describes is truly indicative of the absurd license that the self-righteous afford themselves. Makes me wonder what the wimpy dude does behind closed doors - drink to excess, harbor bigoted thoughts, beat his partner or children. His reaction to Ms. Law's smoking was more about his own sense of entitlement and power than it was about her smoking, which couldn't reach him through a sealed window.

I had a similar experience a few years back. I was smoking outside - not in anyone's path and near no children. A woman walked off the sidewalk, across the lawn to where I was perched and began to dress me down quite rudely. I quickly decided hers was a power trip, not a health campaign. You see, she was about the size of a small SUV. Watching her move toward me in layers to upbraid me about my unhealthy habit would have been comical except for her total sense of righteous indignation.

I wasn't nice. I pointed out to her that she would likely die of the extra 200 pounds she was toting around long before my secondhand smoke had any impact on her health. The silly woman sought my smoke by waddling over to me to give me her scolding.

Dinank: I am truly sorry that you suffered so many health problems as a child because of your parents habits - but - there are mindful smokers out there. I have never smoked in a house or car with a child in it, and would certainly never do so with all the windows closed. I don't even like the constant smell of smoke and try to do as much as I can to control it, both for my own comfort, and those around me.

That being said I have to agree with varun2121 that if I am doing my level best to be responsible and mindful of others, and you go out of your way to make an issue out of what is essentially a personal choice, especially, and I need to stress this, if you are going to be obnoxious, rude, and/or insulting - I reserve the right to react accordingly. Society works much better if we are polite - whether we smoke or not. Ask me nicely, you'd probably be surprised how accommodating most smokers can be.

To Dinank.
A polite smoker is one who would never smoke inside the house where their children live, definitely not in a closed car. A polite smoker is one who takes a few steps back when waiting at a stop light and a mother with children walks up. And I follow rules to protect children and those who deserve not be affected by my habit, but believe me if while following those self-applied rules you walk up to me and demand a cessation to my habit as in this article, I will take nothing but intense joy in blowing as much smoke as I can gather into your face.

I was a smoker for years and was able to finally quit. I don't miss the stares, glares, rude comments, and obviously fake hacking coughs from passers-by looking to make a point. I do have friends who are smokers and I don't lecture, I don't make rude comments, and I don't give dirty looks. If people want to smoke, it's none of my business as long as they follow the rules and don't smoke around children. Yeah, smoking is unhealthy and all that, but It really bothers me when people overreact about it. I grew up in a home of smokers and it's always been normal to me, I suppose.

There is no such thing as a "polite smoker". Everything you do impacts the people around you. How do I know? I was one of those kids in a closed car while my parents inhaled away. I was one of those kids who smelled like nicotine everyday of my life until college when I had the epipiphany that if I didn't take my laundry home, I no longer smelled like an ashtray. I was sick with sore throats every day of my life. When I had to have my tonsils out for a second time, the Dr politely suggested to my mom that they should smoke outside. What good did that do? The walls of our house were covered in nicotine.

I had my mom live with me at the end of her life. She was tethered to an oxygen tank. When she went unconscious, she started spewing a steady stream for brown gunk...the stuff coming off her lungs as they filled with fluid.

Your smoke follows me, you reek like an ashtray. Everything you do affects me. I will be annoyed by it...I will go out of my way to get around it...you are not as innocent as you would like to think!

Thank you hocknod - for proving the author's point.

Personally, I agree with Ms. Law - I understand that this is an unhealthy habit - I understand that it is one that it is one that can be detrimental to those around you. So can any drug addiction, and that is what it is - an addiction. That being said MOST smokers I know make every effort to be mindful of the non-smokers around them. I do not smoke in my my home because I am married to a non-smoker. I go stand outside our apartment, and I try to stay downwind of the doors. I even go so far as to curtail my smoking IN MY OWN CAR if it seriously bothers my passenger. That being said, I do tell them that it is a smoking vehicle, and unless they have health issues, well, my car, my rules. Yes, that rule applies to their cars too.
The point is smokers and the obese are the only groups in America that it is considered ok to abuse - since when is it acceptable to walk up to someone and threaten to spit in their face because they are doing something you don't like? Since when is it ok to treat someone like they are less than human because they are suffering from an addiction? Rather than immediately react with vitriol and hatred, why not try to be an understanding member of the human race? I know very few smokers, myself included, who will not react much more positively to a simple "Excuse me, could you move? Your cigarette smoke is bothering me." than expletives and abuse. Try it sometime.

No, no deal! If you want to smoke in your home, then fine. But I don't want to risk lung cancer every time I leave my office, leave the subway, leave a bar, etc. The time has come to put serious restraints on where you can smoke! Why is it that you can go to a park where children are and smoke all the cigarettes you want but a cancer patient can't sit in their basement and smoke marijuana??? It's seriously messed up.

"Rule-abiding smoker." Ha. The rules are made by indentured servants to the tobacco lobby. What a joke. Smokers are the most inconsiderate people around. You shouldn't have your own sections at restaurants - you shouldn't be allowed to smoke in them at all! Smoke in an alley behind the building where the rest of us who like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide - and want to pass on the nicotine, tar, and other additives, along with lung cancer, emphysema, and slew of other health problems - won't walk to. "In college I finally grasped how necessary smoking was." No, it's not actually. You're an idiot. Try walking to the beat of your own drum for once.

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Unfortunately what a lot of smokers do not realize or take into account is the power of cigarette smoke to travel long distances and get into places where they wouldn't think the smoke is able to. I as a non smoker do understand and sympathize with the smoker. Most are completely addicted and cannot stop. But please understand that when I cross the street to avoid your smoke I'm not doing so to make a statement or make you feel bad but I really cannot stand ingesting your cigarette smoke. I hope and pray that all of us can just understand each others dilemma and try and get along as peacefully as possible.

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