you a grrl destiny2002 or ?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cedric Tomkinson
[B]

You wanna think that statement through?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ralper
[B]I do agree that there are many real diseases that need attention.

 

Well I don't see this going anywhere, at least not anywhere constructive and I 've said my piece really. I objected strongly to the statement that smokers are "The rudest and most irresponsible people around" People have a right to their opinion but I think that statement ranks as one of the rudest and ill-considered I've read in a long time. Sure, make your objections known but let's not over- gild the lily.

I liken this to the well known fact that sex offenders have a hard time in prison. If you think that this is due to some inate sense of decency in the scumbags that reside there, you're sadly wrong. It's just a need for people at the bottom of the heap to look down on someone and to regain some self respect by feeling superior to at least one group.

Whilst I'm not suggesting some members here are bottom of the heap, :wink: I do see a similar self -righteous herd mentality developing which I find extremely irritating... just one of my pet hates, so I'm going to take my own advice and go clip a few apexes!

 

Cedric

I don't quite understand what exactly it is that you are trying to say. I don't see how sex offenders in prison relate to smokers and non-smokers. None the less, enjoy your drive.

 

OK, since that was my statement that seems to have started this firestorm, let me say this. I was brought up in a family of smokers. I can remember going on a Sunday drive with my mother, father, sister and her husband, all smoking inside the car at once. They thought nothing of it at all, and this was back in the '60s. When I rode the school bus, I was surrounded by teens trying to be cool and filling the bus with smoke. I hated it then and I don't like it now.

So - do not think this is some new thing with me. I am not jumping on some politically correct bandwagon because it is fashionable. I see people who would never think of throwing a cup or a candy bar wrapper out the window of their car or just on the ground in general think nothing of throwing a cigarette butt out their car window or just wherever they are. It is almost like cig butts are not considered litter in their minds. I have friends that smoke, it is just incredible to see them finish and throw their butt down right in my yard or driveway!

As I said in my original post, that was my opinion. Of course there are smokers out there that are saints and salt-of-the-earths who would give you the shirt right off their back. And I will agree that it only takes a few to make it bad on everyone. But in my experience (and again in my opinion) it is more the majority than the minority of smokers that act this way. I'm sorry if this upsets some people but it is the way I feel...

I sure wish I could go for a drive now. It has rained here all weekend and I wanted to try out my new alignment. I got the British specs done for the alignment, and so far I can tell a big difference.

 

When I was 20, my mother died after a lifetime of smoking. Prior to her death, we were frequently awakened multiple times during the night by Mom hacking, coughing, to the point that she was blue in the face, couldn't draw any air into her lungs at all, and was coughing so uncontrollably that she couldn't keep the saliva from running down her chin. I had nightmares for months about listening to that horrible coughing.

When my mother died, she left me at 20, brother, 14, and sister, 28. My nephew was only 22 months old and hardly remembers my Mom. My brother got shuttled out to Colorado with my father and went into a deep depression. I'm not sure he ever recovered from it and ended up dropping out of school. ALL of us ended up in therapy, some of us with better results than others.

When I got married, my mother wasn't there. Worse, when my marriage fell apart, my mother wasn't there. When I graduated college, something she had pushed me for HARD, she wasn't there. When I have my first child, my Mom won't be there. My children will never know their grandmother.

If you think your smoking isn't hurting anyone else, you need to think again.

 

wow,
This went a little further than my original pidly gripe

 

Quite possibly because to some of us, this is a deadly serious issue, not merely a "jump on the anti-smoking bandwagon" thing. There is no justification for it. It is a nasty, stinky, lethal habit. And I have no doubt that there will be no winners in this argument, but the losers are the ones who can't get off tobacco.

 

Hmm, given the two choices I have to go with "?"