Organic Mutant

It’s easy to revile smokers. Their pastime results in dirty air and unhealthy symptoms as well as environmental degradation. Like the overweight or the poor, they are easy targets for feelings of superiority in the observer. Here in San Diego we visit a lot of parks in our ongoing efforts to make sure the kidlet has enough physical activity. We’ve been all over the county in pursuit of a few hours of fresh air and exercise. In more affluent areas I rarely see caretakers smoking. However in less affluent areas I have noticed caretakers smoking on or near the playgrounds where their charges are playing. This anecdotal evidence reflects the trend that people who smoke are more likely to be poor and engage in high-risk behavior i.e. exposing their own offspring to secondary smoke. ‘So what?’, you might ask. They smoke, it shortens their life, and affects their children and family. Who cares? While I think that people should take responsibility for their actions, I also think that corporations that feed off our lesser tendencies should have some responsibility for the problems their markets cause so I believe that companies that manufacture cigarettes should pay some price for the difficulties caused by their products. However, I understand that so called ‘sin taxes‘ have a graver impact on poor consumers, so I don’t necessarily advocate them, but I do think that some type of action to mitigate the impact that abusive smoking has on our society and environment is necessary.

In ninth grade, I had a friend named Erin (Rick was friends with her younger brother, Dana). I’d known Erin for a few years in junior high, but right before our freshman year Erin and her family moved about a block away from our house near Leigh High School. One day I was walking home from school with Erin in my cheerleading uniform and instead of heading straight home I went home with Erin. We were cautioned to never do anything unbecoming of cheerleader while in uniform under threat of being kicked off the squad (some girls did some very risque things, however, since they weren’t in uniform none off them were ever relieved of their positions). Once at Erin’s home, we listened to music and ate some snacks. At some point Erin offered me a cigarette as she had been smoking for a while, stealing smokes from her mother. Dressed in my cheer uniform, I hesitated, but then not wanting to be a square I said sure. Since Erin was still hiding her smoking from her mom, we went outside in front of the garage to have a smoke. I was nervous about breaking a taboo and also afraid of being caught smoking — even though we had a smoking section at school for the students. That cigarette made me so sick and dizzy that I couldn’t even finish it, but still there was something seductive about the ritual of inhaling.

I never have been a ’smoker’ even though I have occasionally enjoyed a bidi, a cheroot, or a nargile. So I don’t think that the root of the problem is smoking in and off itself. I think that the problem is our gluttonous society wherein a person smokes a pack or two or three a day. If a person smoke two packs a day that is forty cigarettes per day. Assuming 16 hours of wakefulness and 2.5 cigarettes per hour at approximately 7 minutes per cigarette smoked, over 17 minutes per hour are given over to the smoking habit. Sure you can smoke and make breakfast at the same time, but ew, gross, ashes & eggs do not the best menu make. And what to do with the refuse of a habit that takes up almost 1/3 of your waking time? Is anyone gonna walk around with 40 butts in their pocket? A few years ago I was acquainted with a person of European extraction who smoked. I was surprised when I accidentally discovered xir habit. This person never stank of old astray or spewed smoke tinged breath in my face. I tried to give hir a hard time about hir habit and xie defended hirself saying, ‘I smoke 3-4 cigarettes a day. One after lunch, one or two in the afternoon or evening and one before bed. I run and am active, so give me a break. It is just a past time and I don’t over indulge like you Americans.’ I learned that in many European countries, smoking is not a competitive sport (although I am sure there are individuals who over indulge there). It is more of a pleasant way to end a meal or to sit and contemplate the passing of the day. Just as one drink does not make one an alcoholic, one smoke does not make one an extreme smoker.

So while I despise the visual clutter and environmental pollution as much as the next person, I think that unless smokers start taking responsibility for their habit i.e. not throwing their butts into the roadway or people’s yards, smoking far away from children, not smoking near doorways or places where their smoke impinges on other’s ability to breath, local governments will enact more and more laws restricting smokers and their ability to smoke wherever they damn please. Instead of complaining and whining they need to band together to show the world that in spite of their addiction, they can be considerate, conscientious, and clean. Bwahhhahhha! Who am I kidding? The vast majority of those who indulge in this lethal past time are never gonna do this. So government will keep extracting extra dollars from smokers and continue limiting their habit and time will keep on ticking into the future.