i usually walk in the morning. less noise. less people. less traffic. and apparently less smokers. today i walked late in the day - actually it was evening rush hour - and i couldn't get over how noisy and busy the gas fume-filled streets were. the worst of it all was how many smokers were out on the street at that time. there were at least 3 per block and i walked 60 blocks. started feeling like i was smoking again.
i hear that mike bloomberg - nyc's lame duck mayor who might try to push through as many controversial ideas as possible before he leaves office - has backed extending the smoking ban to include public parks and beaches. what would it take for him to include sidewalks?
i know, i know, i smoked until 7 years ago and i infuriated my share of non-smokers with my habit. i'm now an unforgiving convert....and as my mother would say, "converts are the worst." what i can't get over is how selfish a habit smoking is. the only other legal vice that impacts others to this degree - by possibly causing health issues or death - is driving drunk. one is just more obviously dramatic, but the end result is quite similar.
wwcd: wondering why bloomberg can't ban cigarettes instead of smoking
And you're not allowed to walk down the street with an open container?
ReplyDeletefrom aunt judy:
ReplyDeleteI was the first of all my friends many years ago when living in Dallas to walk away from all my card games and events that had smokers and prohibited smoking in my home and car. friends thought I was excessively overboard and a raving fanatic on the issue of the danger of the smoke and secondary smoke. what added to my feelings was watching my mother slowly die of emphysema. a life time smoker whose feet didn't touch the floor in the morning before getting out of bed and lighting a cigarette.
todays youth are smoking. my feeling is it should be banned everywhere. u want to smoke and kill yourself do it at home. it should be banned, but it ain't gonna happen. the tobacco lobby is too strong.