Up In Smoke

          At times I don't know whether to be angry with their actions or to just pity them.  They are rude and inconsiderate.  They are dirty.  They often don't pay attention to regulations.  They burn their money.  They are addicted. They ruin their health and sometimes even the health of others.  They often stink.   And they may be headed to a terrible physical death and possibly even a worse spiritual end.
          Cigarette smoking has gone through many changes during my lifetime.  Growing up it was widely accepted and advertised freely.  I heard that the government even provided them for soldiers during war time.  Folks, especially men, smoked openly at work, at play, in restaurants and everywhere.  When i began teaching I disliked going into the faculty room to get my mail because it was filled with smokers.  Second hand smoke could not be avoided.
          During those years it seemed like the only folks who didn't smoke were Christians who felt their bodies were the temples of God and wanted to keep them clean.  I never smoked - I think my parents might have disowned me if I did.  However, one time I came close.  I was with a few of my friends on a bus trip with the Lititz Hot Stove League to see a Phillies game.  Almost everyone on the bus was smoking, including my friends.  When we stropped at a Howard Johnson's to eat, I approached the cigarette vending machine and was considering the possible choices.  After all, who would know.  Suddenly someone said, "Hi Barry, what are you doing here?"  It was our Sunday School Superintendent who knew our family well.  And with that unexpected event, my desire to try a smoke ended.  Today I thank the Lord for that intervention.
           Over the years I learned to speak up to inconsiderate smokers.  My wife couldn't stand smoke, maybe because as she was growing up her father was a smoker.  He later came to know the Lord and gave up the habit.  But twice, once at a Phillies game and once on a tour bus in Washington D.C., when we were surrounded by smokers, I spoke up and said that we didn't care if they exercised their right to smoke but they should know that my wife might throw up.  In both cases the smoking suddenly ceased.
          Recently I heard that there are 500,000 deaths a year due to smoking in this country.  Experts say that while 50 years ago it was finally proven that smoking causes lung cancer, now it is known to cause at least 13 different cancers.  It also can lead to blindness, liver and kidney disease, diabetes, arthritis, infertility, and other diseases.  Teen smoking is increasing and experts predict that 1 in 13 children will die from the effects of smoking if it continues to increase.  And today 18% of the public still smoke.
           But, fortunately, with the revelations of the health effects of smoking, no smoking areas have become common in restaurants, work places, schools, athletic competitions and most public places.  Berkeley, California, has even banned smoking outdoors in commercial districts, in parks and at bus stops.  They are considering expanding that to multiunit buildings and even single-family homes.  But with all of that I find it so sad to see the number of women, and especially young girls, who now smoke openly.  Is that a result of women's lib?  I guess the girls now have the same right to ruin their health by smoking.  And I guess they also have the right to spend huge amounts of money to maintain their habit.  Maybe it helps the economy.
          Now what upsets me about smokers?   I hate when they throw their butts on the street in front of my house or on my driveway.  I hate when a smoker litters by throwing a butt out of the car window on the public streets.  I often feel like picking it up and returning it to them, but with road rage I might get run over or attacked.  I hate going into Park City where the signs say no smoking within 50 feet of the entrance, but folks still stand or sit at the doors smoking away.  Then we need to walk through their smoke to enter.  I hate seeing drivers, usually females, driving with their cell phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I hate seeing small children in an enclosed car with adults smoking away.  I hate when smokers use public bathrooms to sneak a smoke.  I think that if they are caught they should be required to do 50 hours of community service caring for folks who are suffering from lung diseases or even with throat and lung cancer because of their smoking habits.  But I don't know that even that would make a difference.  Young people just don't think it will ever happen to them.  And for many others, especially the insecure, it becomes a crutch.

          I guess the bottom line is that you just can't legislate good health practices.  People will just do what they want anyway.  And that is a sad commentary on today's society.