Literally. I take public transportation and am a pedestrian. I spend a lot of time standing at busstops. And every morning I have to walk through clouds of other people's chemical-soaked tobacco. I immediately feel it in my lungs and soon the headache begins. I am frustrated. Don't I have the right to breathe clean air? Do they notice how their actions affect others (not-to-mention, their own health)?
I am trying to resist finger-wagging in this post, out of compassion and love for those with nicotine addiction. One of my best friends smokes and wishes not to. I want this post to be an expression of my voice - one person - who is physically, negatively affected by smoke.
There are well-funded campaigns to assist peole with shedding this deadly addiction, and I laud that work. Some anti-smoking sites:
for kids: http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/smoking.html
for young adults: http://www.thetruth.com/
for everyone: http://www.no-smoke.org/
http://www.getoutraged.com/
shocking and personal: http://www.sptimes.com/News/61599/Floridian/He_wanted_you_to_know.shtml
1 comment:
I think they've introduced bills into the Oregon Legislature recently to create "no smoking in bars" kinds of laws. I would guess that legislation like that will be pretty hard to pass in Oregon, given the strong urban/rural divide. But being a non-smoker, I can vouch for the extreme wonderfulness I find these laws to be.
Not that I've been in bars lately. Going out for drinks means spending money, and oh yeah, not studying. Hey, maybe I should go enjoy our California non-smoking laws more often....
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