superjen wrote:why don't the restaurants ban smoking, but instead add just a miniscule amount of some kind of element into everyone's food that will slowly cause us all to get horrible diseases that will eventually kill us? hmmm...
See my above post regarding "unknown and unseen" hazards. If the restaurant advertized the element and people still ate it, well, that's their fault (much like smokers getting ill, when, since I was 9 I've known smoking was harmfull (but, moreso, disgusting, because climbing can be harmfull, too). The issue is that you KNOW there is smoke present, chose to be near it or not.
superjen wrote:
also, what is so frickin' hard about stepping outside to get your fix?
Absolutely nothing and many people do it already, out of courtesy. At work, people may not smoke indoors, so they take breaks outside, etc. The smoker is CHOOSING to help keep "common" air clean, by smoking outside a restaurant (if they are sitting in a non-smoking section with friends, lets say) and I applaud that choice. If one wishes an establishment to be smoke free, take issue with the owner, making a point that you will no longer patronize his/her establishment unless air conditions improve. If enough people complain and the owner begins to lose money, he/she will change his/her policy. Bringing "BIG BROTHER" to the fight, when it's non of his damn business is the wrong approach.
As I said before, my mom smokes and, to my knowledge, has for at least 30 years. My dad smokes the "mother of all cigarette", the Camel non-filter (which is about the only cigarette I can respect, because, if you're going to do something, at least do it right, none of this menthol, light or ultra-light b%llsh^t) as well as cigars (Havanas, too). Now, if either of my parents develop cancer from their smoking, I WILL be sad, because I will be losing a parent, but I also understand they are bringing it upon themselves and know the risks (much like my climbing, or motorcycle riding, or sky diving) and choose it anyway.
And please, nobody bring up the "maybe they can't quit, because they're addicted" garbage. A habbit or physical/mental addiction is just that and nothing more. A person either WANTS to do something, or they DON'T. Success in any endeavor is directly linked to how badly the goal is desired...Fat loss, climb rating, habbit breaking, running goal, etc...(there are SOME physical limitations on maximum achievement, but very few people ever actually reach their physical limitation).
"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."
D. H. Lawrence
